Has Vettel got his mojo back?

A furtive glance at the timing screens after the first day of 2015 pre-season Formula 1 testing at Jerez would suggest Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari are both back in the game.

After a difficult morning - compromised by a telemetry problem with the SF15-T - Vettel emerged from the Scuderia's garage, into the afternoon sun, and promptly outpaced the erstwhile dominant Mercedes of 2014 world championship runner-up Nico Rosberg.

Of course it is foolish to read too much into laptimes so soon in the season - affected as they are by incomparable fuel loads and variable testing programmes across the different teams.

But a driver will have a fair idea straightaway whether his new steed is something he can learn to love, or a complete dog that he would rather discard. In this regard, Vettel must surely feel encouraged.

Vettel sets out to begin his 2015 work © XPB

Ferrari pointed to the fact Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time on day one of pre-season testing last year - and we all know how shaky the foundations of that house of cards turned out to be - in an effort to play down Vettel's performance, but as the ex-Red Bull driver himself said afterwards: "surely it's better to be closer to the front rather than a long way behind".

Vettel wasn't giving much away when he spoke about his first experiences of Ferrari's latest design, but he looked content, happy even. There were plenty of times during his swansong with Red Bull that you couldn't say that...

"I haven't driven the 2014 Ferrari, but I think as a starting point it was a good day," he told reporters after his first taste of contemporary Ferrari machinery in F1.

"Obviously there are a lot of things that are different: the steering wheel layout, the steering wheel itself, the strategies. In the end all the buttons probably do the same or similar things, but they are all different so it does take some time to get used to that.

"Of course the car feels different - it's a different philosophy behind it and it's made by different people. But fortunately I could use the time in the winter to make sure I feel comfortable. I could really focus on the car.

"We didn't run a lot today, but what we did felt good as a starting point. More I cannot say and I don't want to say, because it's way too early for that."

Many churlishly wrote Vettel off after a 2014 season in which he was comfortably defeated by Red Bull rising star Daniel Ricciardo, and Christian Horner revealed ahead of this first test that Vettel had lost a bit of his love for F1 amid massive regulation changes, a car he didn't enjoy driving (or like the sound of), and a team-mate that could put him under pressure consistently.

There weren't many grins in 2014 © LAT

But you don't win one Formula 1 world championship by accident - let alone four - and those who underestimate the transformative power of a fresh challenge and a fresh environment on a world class driver do so at their peril.

The same goes for the team, which can grow stale built around the same foundations for too long. Ferrari has swept a new broom right through its F1 squad over the winter. This change could be just what both Ferrari and Vettel need right now.

"Last year was a difficult year and there was plenty of work - therefore, you might not have as much time to laugh and joke around as usual," explains Vettel. "But starting off this year is a different story - a new challenge, a new team, everything is new, and I feel very motivated.

"But I'm not sitting here and saying last year I was down and therefore wasn't performing; I was giving everything I had and surely it wasn't enough, but that's why you keep coming back and trying again.

"Obviously it's a big change [coming to Ferrari], but so far it keeps getting better. I used the time during the winter to go to Maranello a couple of times. From what I've seen it's really impressive. The potential is huge.

"Obviously there is a lot to do, but it's a big time of change - a lot of people leaving, a lot of people coming, and a lot of people getting promoted into different places, so it will take some time, but I think definitely motivation is high.

"I'm quite happy where I am and definitely the feeling is different. I don't regret any time I had at Red Bull. I had a very, very good relationship with the people there, but I think - to sum it up - Ferrari is something special."

P1 on this board on Sunday, but will it be there when it matters? © XPB

The hope for both parties is that their burgeoning relationship will turn into something special too - in time. It will surely take time, though, because of the relentlessness of the current Mercedes operation.

Vettel beat Rosberg to the fastest time on day one of pre-season testing, but Mercedes by far racked up the largest number of laps - something Vettel clearly felt was more significant to the emerging storyline of F1 2015.

"I think in terms of laps there's still a lot of improvement we can do," he says. "The reference is still Mercedes - they did 150-200 laps today, so they've proven they start off with a very reliable car.

"Hopefully not as quick as last year - I think that's what everyone is hoping for! But you have to give fair credit to them - they're doing a very good job. It will be a surprise if they're not as strong as they were last year."

Early testing has not been Mercedes' forte in recent years, which is perhaps ominous given how strong it was on day one at Jerez in 2015.

Two years ago Rosberg managed 11 laps on the opening day before a wiring loom failure forced him out; and a day later Lewis Hamilton ended up in the barriers with brake failure. Last year, Mercedes endured another fraught opener as Hamilton crashed again after suffering wing failure.

There was to be no such trouble this time around: as Rosberg managed a whopping 157 laps, having also made sure his team was first out of the garage again bang on 9am.

Mercedes' start to 2015 was ominous for its Formula 1 rivals © XPB

The opposition certainly could not fail to have been slightly disheartened by what Mercedes showed - even though no one really expected anything different from the team that was so dominant in 2014.

Adrian Newey, whose Red Bull team had a much better testing opener than the disaster of 12 months ago, was well aware of how tough it is going to be to close that gap to Mercedes.

"It doesn't surprise me," he said about the Mercedes form. "It was always likely to be the case. The engine is well sorted, they do all the research to get the chassis reliable, so it's not a total surprise.

"Our car, so far we haven't had any mechanical problems on the chassis side, but we have had a couple of problems that have stopped us doing very much running unfortunately today - one with the battery and another with an engine-related problem.

"It's the nature of testing, and I think Mercedes clearly are the favourites. They have a very good team, and a great power unit."

Red Bull knows its title hopes rest on a good jump in performance from engine partner Renault - although Newey accepts that it will be impossible to expect it to close the 10 per cent power deficit to Mercedes in just one season.

The reliability issues that his team and fellow Renault outfit Toro Rosso encountered on day one were a sign of the scale of the challenge the French car manufacturer is still facing.

Red Bull's year began better than 2014 had © LAT

Daniel Ricciardo certainly seemed a bit cautious when asked about when Renault had made a decent leap with its 2015 power unit.

"It's still too early to say - but I think it is [a step forward]. We'll see in Melbourne when everyone's even, but for now, the first day, I think there's some positive signs," he says.

We must remember of course that this is just pre-season testing - and it's only day one of 12 days of running before the start of the campaign.

Last year Red Bull and Renault went from crisis on day one to (brief) podium finishers in Australia - so anything is possible.

But if any of Mercedes' rivals hoped 2015 would deliver us some chinks in the German car manufacturer's armour, they were pretty much dashed by what the W06 did on Sunday.

Mercedes chief Paddy Lowe was in quite a confident mood as he spoke to the media after the session - and gave quite a telling answer to a question about what he felt most happy and unhappy about so far.

"Our main objective for today was to achieve mileage," he said. "I think on that basis we can come away very, very happy indeed. We did 695km [432 miles] during the day, including 17 live pitstops. I think that was more than we actually had targeted, so I'm very happy with that indeed.

"In terms of things we were unhappy with...um...no, we are not unhappy today."

And neither was Vettel. Sometimes - and perhaps today was a good example - being happy is more important than being fastest.