Vettel: Ferrari 'flat out' with new power unit

Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari "went flat out straight away" with its new power unit during practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Ferrari has introduced an updated power unit for the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, using three tokens to develop its engine. Vettel ended FP2 second quickest - 0.3s behind Lewis Hamilton - having done limited running in the opening session, and when asked if it was a difficult day easing in a new power unit, Vettel replied: "No easing in, we went flat out straight away.

"Obviously time is very valuable and you try to get as much information as soon as possible and I think everything seemed to be working as expected."

And while Ferrari looks capable of challenging Mercedes in race trim, Vettel is wary of jumping to early conclusions following a shortened day of running.

"They are quick, we know that, anything else would be a surprise. Of course we would take it but I think we have to wait, it was a rushed programme for everyone and it’s not so clear what everyone was doing in terms of fuel loads and stuff. We have to be cautious  - I think we can still improve but let’s see what happens tomorrow and particularly Sunday."

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Canadian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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