Following early pre-season testing in Barcelona, Sebastian Vettel has declared being pleased with the results of his team’s hard work over the winter with the new Ferrari SF1000.

Ferrari’s goal for the new SF1000 was to increase downforce, with last year’s SF90 known to have very low drag but less cornering might than its Mercedes counterpart.

And asked whether he’d felt that up in downforce during his 73 laps in the SF1000 Vettel replied: “Yes. Enough? We will see, but it's definitely a step up from last year.

“Obviously we had a clear plan of what we wanted to achieve with this year's car, and it is going in that direction, but now I think it's up to us to really explore the car back to front and see how it responds on track.”

Asked to assess the cars that will turn up on the first grid in Melbourne, Vettel predicted a closely-fought season ahead, while praising the detail work on cars throughout the paddock, in what will be the final F1 season before the 2021 regulations kick in.

“The cars, they all look beautiful in a way,” said Vettel. “They all have got very high level of detail, all of them; it doesn't matter if you go up or down the pit lane. Certainly compared to maybe two or three years ago where the top cars looked very fine and then the midfield and then bottom of the field, you were able to see the differences.

“Now I think it should be a lot closer. I hope it's a lot closer on track, and we will see that throughout the season. I think there's a lot of stuff as a fan to look at.”