Vettel, who also claimed the best time in his Red Bull car in Tuesday's session, outpaced France's Sebastien Bourdais of the Toro Rosso team.

They were the only drivers to post times under 1min 20sec, with the German recording a best lap of 1min 19.295sec.

Spain's Pedro de la Rosa, who was fourth fastest on Monday in a McLaren, came in last at the wheel of a Force India car.

'It was good to be back in a race car again, for the first time since Brazil,' said Vettel who became the youngest driver to win a Formula One grand prix when he triumphed at Monza in September.

He has switched to Red Bull from sister team Toro Rosso for the 2009 season.

'Running the 2009 slick tyres was very interesting and very different to what Formula One has been used to for the past few years. It was also a useful couple of days for me from the point of view of getting to know the engineers and the rest of the team.

'It is important to develop a common understanding between us and winter testing is the ideal opportunity to do just that.' -- AFP