The evidence before the start of the season Vettel was faster than Valtteri Bottas. but McLaren’s reliability issues returned as they were limited to just seven laps.

Vettel topped the timesheet with a 1:20.396 on medium tyres to be two tenths of a second clear of Bottas – whose best lap came on softs – at the lunch break.

Max Verstappen was only five thousandths of a second further back on the medium tyres, suggesting Red Bull will be able to make it a three-way fight in F1 2018.

But testing McLaren returned after Stoffel Vandoorne stopped twice in the first 70 minutes of the race.

Belgium had to retire to the McLaren garage at the end of his opening glass before his MCL33 stopped at the start of the finish, finishing only four laps.

Toro Rosso enjoyed another reliable morning with their Honda engines with Pierre Gasly posting the fourth fastest time,to increase the pain for McLaren,

While returning to the track shortly before his break, his only lap was 1: 24,773 in super-descendant tires and almost three seconds more slowly than any other person, Woking’s team said that Vandoorne’s car suffered an “energy shutdown” associated with a battery case.

The French 1: 20.973, while Toro Rosso was the best pre-season test, 52 rounds, the team gave more than 375 rounds in winter.

By posting the fifth fastest time of the session and being ranked within a second from Vettel’s point of view Kevin Magnussen also offered more encouragement at Haas

Dane was close to Renault’s Sergey Sirotkin and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault, with only four-tenths sharing the triple.

Force India had another low morning, posting the second fewer laps and Sergio Perez taking a run on the gravel to draw a banner red, Marcus Ericsson completed more than half a century of turnover for Sauber and was the fastest eight.