How good was Ferrari's first day?

Given Sebastian Vettel's reluctance to say anything he doesn't mean, his positive comments after topping the first day of 2016 Formula 1 testing were poignant.

Unsurprisingly he didn't make any grand claims of huge steps in performance from Ferrari. But his general demeanour throughout the day and his choice of words in summing up how things went points to a driver and a team content about where they are and where they are going.

He could have simply said something along the lines of "don't read into the times" and then talked about how meaningless they were, but he chose not to.

"It's a step forward," he said. "It was the first proper day and it was good to get some laps and a first feel for the car. The first impression was very positive.

Vettel rarely talks up his chances unless he has very good reason to believe it © XPB

"We're fairly happy with the car, the way it felt. Ideally, we'd like to do some more but naturally when everything is new, you have issues you look into and you take a little bit more caution. You stop, you have a look and these things take time."

On the face of it, the timing screens suggest Vettel and Ferrari are in a position to challenge for the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship.

The four-time world champion ended the day with the fastest time, 0.470s clear of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.

But at this stage, when teams are focusing on system checks and ensuring the base of the car is strong enough to build on, a trouble-free day with plenty of mileage is the focus.

Ferrari did just that, completing its programme with the minimum of fuss, aside from a few small teething troubles that can be expected to crop up early on, and ending the day with 69 laps, just over the equivalent of a race distance.

After the initial aero runs in the morning, Vettel was on the pace immediately on his next run. "I had confidence straight away and that is usually a good sign," he said.

The German was helped by the fact he completed a series of laps at the track on Sunday as part of a Ferrari filming day, but they wouldn't have been anything comparable to what was achieved on a proper day of testing.

Ferrari shocked the field with the turnaround it performed last winter that enabled it to emerge as Mercedes' closest rival in 2015. To expect it to produce a similar jump in form is unlikely, given the law of diminishing returns.

But in order to try to close the gap, Ferrari has made changes in a number of areas. The nose is shorter and higher, while after four years with a pullrod suspension design, it has moved to a pushrod system.

"From the outside you've obviously seen the car, but there are a lot of changes from the inside," said Vettel. "A lot of the stuff that was limiting us last year will be less limiting this year. The car felt good, the front end felt good straight away. The ride was good."

Ferrari is benefitting from a winter that involved very little change. The sweeping management changes after the 2014 season have had a season to bed in and the general calm and positivity around Maranello that was so often talked about last year is having an impact on development.

"The team settled a lot more developing this car than probably the year before," Vettel said. "There was just less going on in terms of changing the structure and that is good and useful. Where we are lacking in performance, we try to focus on those areas."

When it comes to power - the element that proved so crucial in transforming its fortunes last term - Ferrari has improved combustion, the turbo and air intake in a bid to find more performance.

Mercedes and Ferrari are already paying close attention to each other © XPB

Vettel may have only completed a relatively small number of laps with the new unit but what is his initial feeling?

"We tried to make improvements," he said. "Last year, the guys did a miracle and they've been working hard so naturally it is better than it was."

Progress is relative, of course, and while Ferrari had a good day, Mercedes had a great day. The world champion team clocked up 156 laps, the equivalent of two-and-a-half race distances at Barcelona, and more than double that of Ferrari.

Such is the confidence in its performance, Mercedes is using the remainder of the Barcelona test to experiment with "slightly unusual" components after achieving what it described as "ambitious" mileage targets. However, it remains alert to the threat from Ferrari.

"They have certainly been very confident in their car and they will know the numbers," said Mercedes chief Toto Wolff. "[Technical director] James Allison is no fool, they will know what the target is, they know what to achieve.

"They are going to be the team to beat, they are going to be our strongest competitor. Of course, starting like today when we ran so many laps and got so much data is a good start for us but maybe that wasn't on their programme?

"Today was not about looking at the stopwatch and what laptime, and it was not for them either so we must not interpret too much from this."

Vettel, too, seemed unperturbed by the work of his rivals and instead chose to focus on what his team had achieved.

"It looks like they had a decent day," said Vettel. "For us, we didn't do that many laps but overall we have plenty of reason to be happy.

"Last year we had a surprising year which was very good for us so it gave us a lot of strength. Hopefully we can carry that a bit into this year. We finished second so we'd like to make the final step. That would be great for us and great for everyone else - though not for Mercedes."

A GOOD FIRST DAY IN THE OFFICE FOR HAAS

When Haas decided to enter Formula 1, it said it would do things differently. That is no surprise as the last four teams that attempted to do so have hardly covered themselves in glory.

It maximised the listed parts regulations through a technical partnership with Ferrari as well as securing an engine deal. It delayed its entry by a season and ended up having too much time, as owner Gene Haas put it, to ready itself for its debut.

And on the evidence of the first day, so far it seems to be paying off.

There was a minor delay in getting the car out for its first laps, after parts arrived overnight and were fitted to the car, but it completed its installation lap without any drama.

Grosjean was pleased with the start made by Haas, despite wing failure © LAT

Problems happen in testing. It's what it's for. Granted, Haas had a rather large problem when its front wing collapsed after 13 laps of running. But significantly, the team reacted quickly.

It found an interim fix and got the car back out, ultimately completing 31 laps. Before the end of the day, it was confident it had a permanent solution for Tuesday.

"We handled it pretty professionally, we got a solution and did some more running which is important because we are still gathering data," said team boss Gunther Steiner.

"It would have been nice to do 70 or 80 laps instead of 31 but that is why we are here, to learn about the car.

"It is good for the team to experience problems because we can see where we are weak and which processes are missing and then be prepared for race weekend."

It went so smoothly, even Romain Grosjean was shocked.

"The way we were able to go out to do laps without having big problems was the biggest surprise," he said. "Apart from the wing, we didn't have any leaks, any problems, any failures, any electric cuts.

"We will have more problems, that's a fact. It's such a complicated technology this engine, and there is a lot of interaction between the parts. But we are very happy with where we are."

Haas has used its two promotional filming days up already. That's hardly ideal given the season hasn't started, but it wants to make sure it has a strong base car with which to work.

It is why the team is planning on using this whole first test to gain mileage and understand the car it has built. No performance parts will be added.

If all goes to plan, it will look at enhancing the pace of its current package at the final test.

"We would just confuse ourselves if we put new parts on the car at this stage," Steiner said. "Would we have liked to have only used one filming day? Yes, but we have to invest in the front end of the project and there is no point keeping it until August."

There remains a long way to go, of course, especially given it hasn't even come close to testing performance, but for a first day in the office it was promising.