OMNISPORT

Lewis Hamilton was indifferent about Sebastian Vettel posting the fastest ever time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of the 2018 Formula One season.

Ferrari driver Vettel produced a sensational lap of one minute and 17.182 seconds on the new hypersoft compound in Barcelona on Thursday, though times in testing are not recognized officially. Reigning world champion Hamilton was not overly interested in the German's performance, but said he would welcome increased competition in the upcoming campaign.

"I don't know if that's a good time or not," said the 33-year-old, who will be hoping to become just the third driver to win five world titles. "I don't know if it's a qualifying run. I don't really know, I don't really care. It's testing. I think someone said I was down in 11th today, it doesn't matter.

"It matters where we are in qualifying, in Q3 in the first race when everyone's on low fuel. For example, for us we've not been on low fuel yet, so I have no idea where the car can go.

"I hope it [Vettel's time] is good, I hope it's a good, good time so that means that they're strong and that means we have a race on our hands."

Despite his impressive performance on Thursday, Vettel was not getting carried away with the Ferrari's capabilities ahead of the new campaign.

"The times on these test days don't mean much. The important thing is that the [car] has proved to be very strong, allowing us to run all day without any significant problems," he said. "We are still working on some things for the first race and it's not really possible to make any predictions based on the performance of the other teams, because everyone is running a different program. However, I'm happy for the guys in the team."