Vettel 'more brave' as he fits in extra testing

Sebastian Vettel says it was important for him to squeeze in some extra testing time in order to be "a bit more brave" with his Ferrari away from a race weekend.

After Charles Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari on Tuesday, Vettel jumped in the SF70H on Wednesday morning for a short two-hour run before handing over to teammate Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the day. The German duly set the fastest time by some margin – posting a 1:17.124 – and said extra testing was important as he could experiment more with the car.

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"Obviously, you don't get a lot of testing through the season so you try to get as much as you can," Vettel said. "The idea was to just get a feel for the car, we've obviously been in the car all weekend. As it's the last mid-season test it was important to try a few things to get the feeling and Kimi will take over from now.

"We tried some things – in two hours you cannot turn the world upside down. In testing you are a bit more brave in terms of what you want to experience, what you want to try, so it was important to get a feel for the car – and the feeling was very good."

Vettel says some of his work was carried out with the Belgian Grand Prix in mind, with the F1 season resuming at Spa-Francorchamps after a summer break.

"Next race [was a focus], but Monza not really as it's very different in terms of the track, so we didn't bring low downforce here. It is important for the next race but also for the future of the car and future races and where we want to go.

"Small things in the background – in testing you get the chance to test some things, you see other people running with some funny things hanging from the car and so on to try and get an idea what the car is doing. It was important to get a few laps and it's always nice to drive the car."

While the two Ferrari race drivers are both in the car on Wednesday, the main focus was on Robert Kubica's return for Renault, and Vettel says he is pleased to see the Pole driving in F1 again.

"It's great for him to be back. There was never a doubt about his talent, his speed and ability to drive the car. I don't know how he's doing with his hand but I hope he has fun today and enjoys it. I think the cars are different this year, which should fit his style. As I know so little it's very difficult to say what is the purpose and what is the outcome of this test but I hope he will have fun."