'Balls aren't crystal' but Vettel 'curious' after Ferrari start

RESULTS: F1 Pre-season testing results [Wednesday Final]

Sebastian Vettel says he is already keen to get to Melbourne for the opening round of the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship after Ferrari showed eye-catching pace relative to Mercedes on the first three days of testing.

With the SF70H proving durable as it completed 374 laps between Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen over the three days, it was also fast over a single lap with the four-time champion stopping the clock at 1min 19.952secs on day three.

Two tenths slower than pace setter Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes, while the Finn completed his lap on ultra-soft rubber, Vettel's was on the soft compound of Pirelli's new larger tyres. However, it is not known what fuel levels either were running.

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Though Vettel plays down the significance of pre-season testing as teams follow different programmes, he admits he is curious to go directly up against Ferrari's rivals when the season begins in Australia... though candidly reminded assembled media that his 'two balls' are not made of crystal.

"Time will tell! I don't have a crystal ball. I have two other balls but they don't tell me much. I think at this time we have a lot of stuff on our list. It's a very, very long list. So we have a lot of things to do. For sure the potential is higher as the rules are very different, but it is for everyone

"Quite curious to see from now to Melbourne how the car will change and how everyone else will change. In Melbourne we'll have more of a clue where we are."

With Ferrari's last drivers' title coming ten years ago, Vettel says the team has been 'pushing like crazy' to close the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull.

"Well everyone is pushing like crazy. There's a lot of work ahead of us. We've had a good three days, could have been better but yeah, we did a decent amount of laps. We have a lot of stuff where we know we need to improve.

"Didn't really pay much attention to what the others are doing, at the end of the day everyone is looking at one lap time. Much more important what happens throughout the day, it's very difficult to read. As I said, what's most important now is we are running and we as I said we need to improve."

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