Vettel commits to more Pirelli 2017 testing

Vettel drove Ferrari’s modified 2015 mule car at Fiorano for the first day of a two-day test earlier this month, before handing over to Esteban Gutierrez.

Ferrari’s remaining sessions are at Barcelona on September 6-7 for hards and mediums, and Abu Dhabi on November 14-16 for softs, supersofts and ultrasofts.

The Italian team will then join Red Bull and Mercedes for a three-car “final validation” test in Abu Dhabi on November 29. “I like driving so I don’t mind,” said Vettel.

“I am going to be back. We have another test in Barcelona in a couple of weeks, so I’ll be back in the car. I think it’s interesting, being part of the process.

"There’s plenty of work still to do for the tyres. The cars are different, but, to be completely frank, any opportunity to drive the car, I’m up for it."

Fiorano was specifically a wet tyre test, although Vettel did some dry running at the start to shake down the revised high-downforce car.

“It was an interesting experience,” said Vettel. “I was obviously able to get a few laps in the dry before we obviously switched to set tyres.

"They look quite different, felt a bit different but I think there’s a lot of stuff to do, homework to do, for Pirelli. But also for I think the teams.

“Obviously we drive with a sort of modified car, and, as you can imagine, putting it the first day on the track we had some difficulties there. All in all, we did a few laps, and got an interesting feel.”

Vettel said it was hard to judge how the 2017 tyres will behave. “It’s difficult to say. The test was held in Fiorano, it was mostly wet.

"We didn’t have that many races in the wet where we suffered lots of degradation, because mostly the circuit was drying up.

“Obviously we have the test in Barcelona on a more representative track, and I think by then the car should also be in a more representative window, given what we expect from next year.

"We’re not fully there yet. I think Red Bull had a test the same week and had simulations, so we’ll have to see.

“But I think, as a first shot, it was interesting. The tyres definitely look different, the car looks different, feels a bit different.

"Obviously cornering speeds should be quite a bit higher, but since we don’t run that much, unfortunately, in Fiorano, I’m waiting to get to Barcelona to see how much the difference really is.”