Sebastian Vettel unhappy with final winter testing session - Formula 1 news
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel was disappointed with the final winter test in Barcelona, which ended on Sunday, March 3, 2013.
“We just have to look after ourselves,” said Vettel. “We didn't tick all the boxes that we would have liked to and the last two days were not as good as we would
have expected. But there’s still a little bit of time left before the season starts.”
Just like last year, there is a lot of uncertainty, heading into the first race of the season in Australia. After the end of the second preseason test, Red Bull
and Lotus appeared to be in a strong position, as both teams were quite consistent.
However, things took a twist during the final testing session, as Mercedes set the pace with some extremely quick lap times by both their drivers Lewis Hamilton
and Nico Rosberg. They were followed by Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who also appeared to be quite happy with the balance of their car.
Despite all the testing times, Vettel believes that it is too early to judge what position anyone would be in the season opener. According to him, no one was able
to understand the tyres better, so it will be difficult to go for a particular setup in Australia.
The youngest triple world champion said, “If you sum up the whole three tests, we were all limited to what the tyres could do. It was extremely difficult to read
some set-up changes and find a good direction with the car because the tyres were simply not good enough.”
Before the start of winter testing, most drivers expected things to be under control this year, as they believed to have better understanding of the tyres. However,
the situation looks even worse than last year, as the degradation has become an issue for everyone.
Due to this, the race in Australia will be quite interesting, as it could go anywhere at the end of the day. Teams such as Lotus and Sauber could end up taking
advantage of this situation, as they faced minimum tyre wear issues throughout the 2012 season. Therefore, they will be eagerly awaiting the start of this season.
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