Ferrari say the problem with the power unit that failed during testing on Friday has been diagnosed, and the team are not concerned by a recurrence.

Ferrari were one of the teams to need the recovery truck during the first three days of testing, when Sebastian Vettel ground to a halt during Friday’s running.

The German driver had just negotiated his new SF1000 through Turn 9 when he lost power and drive and was forced to pull over and stop on the outside of Turn 11. The car was recovered back to the pits, with Vettel sitting in the garage for several hours as Ferrari confirmed a power unit issue had caused the stoppage.

Ahead of the second pre-season test beginning on Wednesday, Ferrari confirmed that the power unit that failed had been sent back to their factory in Maranello. Upon a full strip back and check, the fault within the unit was traced to a ‘non-structural problem’ with the lubrication system.

Ferrari say that ‘it’s not a cause for concern and work to correct it is already underway’.

The team managed a total of 354 laps over the first three days, despite the loss of time on Friday. Ferrari have been quiet throughout testing so far, with team boss Mattia Binotto confirming the intent of the first week was purely on evaluation: “We adopted a radically different approach to this first pre-season test compared to last year’s. So far, we have concentrated on evaluating every aspect of the car’s potential, running several different configurations, both aero and mechanical, so as to gather as much data as possible.”

Binotto also said that he believes Ferrari are not on the pace of Mercedes, but that this week will see the Scuderia start to focus on speed: “We will begin to investigate the performance side, working on set-up and moving forward with the usual tests in qualifying and race trim in order to be well prepared for the opening round in Australia.”