Sebastian Vettel reserves judgement on Red Bull's new F1 car after first test

"It's too early for that," said Vettel when asked if he believed the car was good enough to fight for the championship.

"We have to look at ourselves and focus on our car. There's hardly any time to watch what the others are doing."

He added: "Now we wait for the Mercedes and then we know a little bit more, but at this stage is clear that it should be very tight again, if not tighter than last year."

Vettel took to the track for the first time today after team-mate Mark Webber had completed the two first days of testing.

The world champion had a slow start to the day but managed 96 laps on his way to the third quickest time.

"This morning was pretty chilly and quite slippery," he said. "It's been two months not inside the car and it takes a couple of laps just to get back in the rhythm. The car feels fine.

"Obviously it's more or less what we expected. There is quite a big loss in grip because of the change in regulations but you get used to it fairly quickly. So far I think we can be quite happy. We had a couple of issues that stopped us for a little while, but it's normal."

He insisted there is still a lot of work to before Red Bull is ready for the first race of the year.

"There's a long way to go. It's the first day. There's a lot more to come and we need to understand how the car works and then we can address the problems properly and hopefully take the development in the right direction.

"But for now it's just about understanding what is the main point for this year and what are the weaknesses and where we can improve."