Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg rack up the testing laps

The four-time world champion was also one of eight drivers to break the 100-lap mark as a lack of off-season technical changes resulted in much better reliability than normally expected so early in the season.

Daniel Ricciardo feels Red Bull is already in a better position than this time previous year after a trouble-free first day of Formula One pre-season testing in Spain.

Vettel, who won four successive drivers’ titles with Red Bull before Mercedes surged to the head of the pack, said: “The dominance of Mercedes in the past two years took away a lot of excitement for the fans”.

Mr. Horner came to the aid of his ally when he said: “I think Bernie is frustrated with where Formula One is and in the old days it would have been easier to fix it. Now we have this democracy in Formula One it’s very hard to get everyone to agree”. “Mercedes have dominated for a couple of years now, and I think we can clearly see signs that Ferrari are closing that gap”.

“We know there are areas we still need to improve, but overall I am happy”.

“So far the first thing that matters is that the vehicle is reacting and doing what I asked for”, said Vettel.

Team are only permitted to use one vehicle during a test day, under the current regulations. “It’s like when you buy a new road vehicle and drive it home for the first time”.

More pessimistically, he added: “It will be an interesting day”.

“The guy who is third fastest in qualifying would start, say seventh or eighth”.

“The standout is that the deployment has been very good – very consistent throughout the day, no issues, and quite a big chunk better on the long runs compared to past year”.

After two days of testing Mercedes has run a combined total of 328 laps – equivalent to almost five Spanish Grand Prix race distances – and is miles ahead of its rivals in terms of distance covered despite failing to threaten the top outright lap times so far. The team had to reinforce its front wings after a failure in the vehicle driven by Romain Grosjean, who finished 10th on Monday.

The Mercedes driver has topped the drivers’ standings for the past two seasons after edging a fierce battle with his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

All in all, cars powered by the Mercedes-Benz power unit completed 2,225 km at the Circuit de Catalunya, including Perez’s 101 laps in the VJM09 and Rosberg’s 172.

“The first time I saw them (the innovations), I was surprised”, Wolff hinted.

Teams have introduced a modified exhaust system to try to boost the engine sound after widespread complaints the cars have been too quiet since the switch to a 1.6-litre V6 turbo from V8 engines in 2014.

True to their intention, Ferrari have thrown the kitchen sink at their new auto, changing the design philosophy over the last few years and pursuing a new development path. They have abandoned Alonso’s favoured pull-rod suspension system, moving to a push-rod design on the SF16-H and making extreme aerodynamic changes to the bodywork, with a shortened nose and a tightly packaged rear end.