By Adam Tate, Managing Editor
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has topped the time sheets at the close of Pirelli’s pre-season wet weather tire test at Paul Ricard. His best lap of 1:06.750 was just shy of a tenth better than Danil Kvyat managed in the Red Bull.
The circuit which hasn’t hosted a Grand Prix since 1990 has evolved into one of the premier test circuits in the world. Pirelli chose it for this and made use of the onsite sprinkler system to test multiple sets of unmarked prototype intermediate and full wet compounds in all conditions in order to further refine their tires for 2016 and 2017.
While times mean little at a test that was meant to help develop new wet weather compounds, it will be reassuring to Ferrari to see their man at the top.
Team mate Raikkonen said he was not a fan of the new compounds and set the slowest time of the test, nearly three seconds behind.
Only Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren took part in the test, and whereas both Ferrari and Red Bull had their regular drivers in the cars, McLaren’s testing duties were taken up by new reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne who amassed a test high 214 laps over the two days.
Image: Ferrari via Ercole Colombo
