Sebastian Vettel thinks that having ‘1’ on his car will not help in 2011 season – Formula 1 news
Red Bull’s driver and youngest Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel has said that he will not have an advantage over the other drivers, having number ‘1’ on his car, RB7.
He said that everything in the new season starts from zero and 2011 season will be a long and hard one for every one.
In 2010, he became the youngest Formula 1 champion when he almost stole the championship from Fernando Alonso in the last Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi. This season he has been given the number ‘1’ by Formula 1 association.
He said, “I don’t have an advantage by having the number one on the car. Last year was a great success and a big relief for me. So hopefully it will make me a bit stronger but nevertheless it [2011] will be a long, hard and tough season.”
Although he might not think of himself as favourite for the championship title, most people think otherwise. Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone recently said that Red Bull’s RB7 is certainly the fastest car on the grid and Vettel is looking in good shape
to defend his title. McLaren’s driver, Lewis Hamilton also said that Red Bull will be the pace sitter this season. Also, the RB7 has done almost 4,500 kilometres in the pre-season tests with almost no mechanical problems at all.
Talking about the new RB7 he said that it certainly looks much stronger than many of the other cars, but still a lot is to be tested before any conclusion is drawn.
Vettel still thinks that it is too early to say about the championship as there are lots of ‘if’ surrounding the Formula 1 2011 season as he was talking about the new rules of movable rear wing and also the sole supplier of the tyres, Pirelli.
He said, “The tyres are very different to what they were last year. I think one stop is impossible at this stage, also maybe two stops.”
He was also talking about his Ferrari tweet the other day, where he said that he would pay for Fernando Alonso’s year-long trip to drive for Ferrari, that some people have taken this comment seriously, whereas he was joking. He said that he is very happy
with the Red Bull team for now and there is no question of leaving them.
The final pre-season test will start next week in Barcelona and Vettel will drive RB7 for one last time before moving on to the big event, the Australian Grand Prix on March 27, 2011.
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