Sebastian Vettel could hardly hide his delight after completing his first practice session for his new team Ferrari yesterday.

As expected, the German was slower than the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg but he was still quicker than everyone else, setting the third fastest time ahead of tomorrow’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Vettel was careful not to read too much into his team’s strong performance but his body language told a different story as he climbed out of the cockpit and flashed a big cheesy grin.

“We didn’t have any issues with the car, there were no problems with reliability, it seems that the hard work we did over testing was positive,” he told re-porters outside the team’s garage.

“We had a smooth day, which is the most important thing.

“In terms of performance, the higher up you are the better it is but it’s Friday. I’ve been in F1 for quite a while now and Friday’s not that important.”

Vettel’s upbeat mood could not have been any different than last year, when he was struggling in his final season with Red Bull.

He’d won four consecutive championships with the team between 2010-13 but didn’t win a single race last year and found it hard to keep up his sprits.

Ferrari didn’t win a race either last year but the early signs are encouraging, even though Vettel conceded they were not ready to challenge Mercedes just yet.

“It would be nice to stay in front of as many people as we can,” he said.

“I’m sure Mercedes is out of reach, you have to be realistic also, but the most important thing today is that we didn’t have any problems, it was very, very smooth.

“I don’t remember the last smooth Friday I had like this, so from that point of view, it was very good.”

2015 F1 schedule

Date Race
1. March 15 Australian Grand Prix
2. March 29 Malaysia Grand Prix
3. April 12 Chinese Grand Prix
4. April 19 Bahrain Grand Prix
5. May 10 Spanish Grand Prix
6. May 24 Monaco Grand Prix
7. June 7 Canadian Grand Prix
8. June 21 Austrian Grand Prix
9. July 5 British Grand Prix
10. July 19 German Grand Prix
11. July 26 Hungarian Grand Prix
12. August 23 Belgian Grand Prix
13. September 6 Italian Grand Prix
14. September 20 Singapore Grand Prix
15. September 27 Japanese Grand Prix
16. October 11 Russian Grand Prix
17. October 25 United States Grand Prix
18. November 1 Mexican Grand Prix
19. November 15 Brazilian Grand Prix
20. November 29 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix information...

Lap distance: 5.303 kilometres.
Total distance: 307.574 kms (58 laps).
Race lap record: Michael Schumacher (Germany) 1:24.125 (Ferrari, 2004).
2014 pole position: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes.
2014 race winner: Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes.
Tyres: Soft (yellow). Medium (white).
Start time: 6am (Malta time).

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