The second day of Pre-season testing or winter testing as its popularly known within F1 is underway at Spain’s Jerez circuit. As the second day of the first winter test drew to a close Sebastian Vettel again set the fastest time, 1m 20.984s.

Winter testing is notoriously difficult to judge how well one team might be over the other and the early pace setters may have something to hide rather than showing out right speed. Ferrari are in danger of doing just that.

Winter testing is also good for the corporate headlines and with Ferrari under the watchful eye of Sergio Marchionne, Fiat boss and parent company of Ferrari, it could be the case that the powers that be want positive headlines at the expense of furrowed brows and head-scratching come the first race in Australia.

Nevertheless whatever Ferrari’s motives Vettel finished nearly one second quicker than the rest of the field, but the first winter test isn’t about setting the fastest times its about calibrating what you have and Ferrari will not be as competitive in Australia.

Speaking via his team Vettel said “It’s too soon to give a verdict on the true level of this car, especially as we can’t make a comparison with the other teams, who can be running different programs,”

Sauber new boy Felipe Nasr was next up, followed by the Williams of Valtteri Botas. Mercedes F1 had a minor blip in store for Lewis Hamilton after he was stationed in his garage early on due to a water leak but the World Champion still managed fourth and 91 laps completed. Job done so far.

Another rookie making his debut was Max Verstappen for Torro Rosso, the 17 year old kid managed to set a time just under four seconds off Vettel’s pace.

McLaren-Honda struggled, Jenson Button managed a mere six laps, it seems the MP4-30 can manage only six laps because Fernando Alonso accumulated the exact same count on the first day of winter testing.

When Button did head back out onto the track he was eclipsed by a heavy downpour and soon he returned to the pits. Speaking afterwards Button said: “It has not been the easiest start to the season but it is a very complicated power unit. We understand the issue and we have our heads around it – that’s what the last run in the wet was about – so we are hoping for a much more productive day three and day four.”

It doesn’t look good right now for McLaren or Honda the team still has time but the clock is ticking fast.

By comparison Mercedes F1 seemed to be working like clockwork, both Hamilton and Rosberg have amassed nearly 300 laps between them, more than any team thus far. So Mercedes has reliability and speed but they are not showing just how fast they can go and the rest of the grid knows it.

Monday testing times from Jerez 1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m 20.984s, 88 laps 2. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 21.867s, 89 laps 3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 22.319s, 61 laps 4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 22.490s, 91 laps 5. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.167s, 73 laps 6. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 25.802s, 41 laps 7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 54.655s, 6 laps 8. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, No time, 18 laps