Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel confident after pre-season testing
The fiercely competitive and highly outspoken Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel remains confident that the Red Bull team is on track to dominate the upcoming 2011 Formula 1 season. Vettel feels that the two pre-season test sessions at Valencia and
Jerez in February, are not adequate enough to determine the pace of the Red Bull car. The German understands that pre-season testing is not always indicative of real race performance.
Red Bull was by far the quickest team on the circuit, as they surprised the other teams with their rapid pace. The Austria based team won the Constructor’s title, as Vettel took the Driver’s title last season. Red Bull had all the other teams by the horns,
but the two pre-season testing sessions have not reflected the same competitiveness.
The teams met for three days for the first phase of pre-season testing at Valencia and later performed tests at Jerez for four days. Red Bull was only able to set the pace once on the first day of testing at Valencia.
Instead of getting used to the new car and improving on lap times, Red Bull’s progress began slipping down. Vettel was the eighth fastest on the fourth and final day of testing at Jerez. The German’s best time was still 2.390 seconds off the pace.
Vettel remains content and is not worried about the speed of his car in testing. He said that testing times can never determine how one team compares to the other. He added that different teams are running on different fuel loads, and also use the tyres
of their own choice. So when there is no uniformity in conditions for every car it becomes difficult to compare performances.
Vettel said, "It is almost impossible to know where we stand, especially during the day it is almost impossible to learn what programme and what tyres everybody is on so we definitely focus on ourselves. In the evening, when the running is over, for sure
you look for information from the other teams, but hardly at all during the time when the session is on."
The first two pre-season outings have given the teams a feel of the new regulations put in this season. The kinetic energy recovery system has made a come-back with the addition of a moveable rear wing and the new Pirelli tyres.
KERS stores the energy produced by the car whenever the breaks are hit, as it saves this energy for a mini-boost whenever the driver is on a long straight or looking to overtake an opponent. The new rear wing is another innovation to encourage overtaking,
as it can be activated when a drivers is looking to overtake and is at a certain distance behind the front car. However, the car in front cannot use the rear wing to prevent the driver behind him from going ahead. It all may sound simple, but in truth it is
all quite complicated.
Vettel admitted that all teams would have to make big adjustments, and the drivers would have a lot more things to worry about this season while driving in a race.
Vettel commented that normally it is not difficult to get used to new additions to the car, but this season there are one too many additions and would take some extra effort from the drivers. He also stated that the most important things would be to know
when and how to use each one of those add-ons.
The first few races will determine if the new additions and rule changes are effective enough to actually make overtaking a regular part of the sport. With all the teams showing improved performances, it will be exciting to see how Vettel handles the competition
this season.
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