Barcelona Day 1: Vettel and Ferrari tops but Mercedes do the miles

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari ended day one of the first Formula 1 preseason test, at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, fastest of all by a half second over Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes but the reigning world champion did a whopping 156 laps which was way more mileage than their rivals could manage on the day.

Vettel did his fastest lap during a fast flurry in the morning session with medium Pirelli tyres bolted on to his Ferrari. His lap was less than 0.3 of a second off 2015 pole and would have put him on front row of the grid for that race.

Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest in the Red Bull, fractionally quicker than the Williams of Valtteri Bottas with Force India’s rookie test driver Alfonso Celis fifth and fastest rookie.

McLaren and engine partners Honda were in the spotlight as the MP4-31 made its track debut after their woeful season past, which began with problems the moment it rolled out of the pit garage a year ago in testing.

The new car proved far more reliable with Jenson Button able to rack up 83 laps, finishing sixth albeit 1.8 seconds off the Ferrari pace using the faster soft compound.

Carlos Sainz completed 55 laps in the all blue Toro Rosso, devoid of branding for the opening day of the test, with Marcus Ericsson eighth on the time sheets in last year's Sauber.

All 11 Formula teams were in action, and all bar Sauber gave their 2016 cars their official track debuts. Among them were newcomers Haas, for whom Romain Grosjean finished 10th after 31 laps in the Ferrari-powered VF-16, despite suffering an early front wing failure which cost them several hours of track time.

After a delayed start, new Mercedes engine customers Manor ended up ninth with rookie Pascal Wehrlein in the cockpit.

It was a less successful day for fellow newbie Jolyon Palmer whose Renault had technical issues and he ended the day at the bottom of the timing screens.