Ferrari could be half a second quicker than Formula One champions Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton said on Friday as Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time so far on the last day of pre-season testing. The Briton, who has won four of his five titles with Mercedes since joining from McLaren at the end of 2012, told reporters at the Circuit de Catalunya that he faced a tough challenge. "I think the gap is potentially half a second, something like that," said Hamilton. Vettel's best lap for Ferrari before lunchtime was the fastest time from eight days of testing — a lap of one minute 16.221 seconds on the softest C5 tires. That was one hundredth quicker than teammate Charles Leclerc's previous best of 1:16.231 on Thursday. The season starts in Australia on March 17. Hamilton's Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas was second fastest on Friday morning with a time of 1:16.561 — also on the C5 rubber and the first time Mercedes had targeted a truly quick time after days of going through their programs. "This is going to be the toughest battle yet...their (Ferrari's) pace is very good at the moment," said Hamilton, winner of 11 races last year to Vettel's five. "Last year they arrived with a car working well but they have done even better this year. It's OK. We don't mind the challenge, it just means we have to work harder. I'm not worried or disappointed or anything." Vettel won the first two races of the season last year, with many people including Mercedes reckoning the German had the fastest car. Ferrari's bid for a first title in a decade unraveled in the second part of the campaign, however, with mistakes by both Vettel and the team. They have since changed the lineup, with Leclerc replacing 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, and Mattia Binotto has taken over from Maurizio Arrivabene as principal. Mercedes have been putting in plenty of laps and sounded more positive on Thursday when both Hamilton and Bottas did full race distances. "Hopefully from this week we will gain another 0.1 seconds from our understanding of the car," commented Hamilton. "But we don't know because everyone has different engine modes and fuel loads. Melbourne will be the first time we get a sight of it and then it will be four races before we really know where we stand." By lunchtime, Vettel had done 68 laps to Bottas's 71. Frenchman Romain Grosjean, in the Haas, did 73. Russian Daniil Kvyat, in the Honda-powered Toro Rosso, was third fastest in 1:16.898. Red Bull's Max Verstappen did a mere 29 laps after his mechanics had worked through the night to finish repairs to the car after team mate Pierre Gasly's crash on Thursday. Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo will give Colombian Tatiana Calderon more opportunities to drive a Formula One car this season after announcing on Friday she was staying on as a test driver. The 25-year-old joined in a testing role last year, when the team were known as Sauber, and tried out a 2013 car at Ferrari's Fiorano track in November. She will make her Formula Two debut this year after previously competing in GP3, one rung further down, where her best result was a sixth place at Monza last year. In October she became the first Latin American woman to drive a Formula One car in an official capacity when she got behind the wheel of the Sauber for filming at Mexico City's Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. "She delivered a good performance when she was given the opportunity to drive a Formula One car for the first time last season and has proven to be a valuable member of our team," said principal Frederic Vasseur. "Together, we will work on further developing Tatiana's skills as a driver and the Alfa Romeo racing project." Formula One has not had a woman driver start a grand prix since Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976. — Reuters
