Will Sebastian Vettel double his title tally next season?
History was made when Sebastian Vettel became the youngest Formula One champion in 2010. Dubbed as "Baby Schumi" he is expected to win many more championships in the future.
Vettel started his career with BMW, but the move to Red Bull was the turning point of his career. He has impressed one and all with his brilliance in 2010 and will look forward to continue his form in the 2011 season. He was given a tough challenge by team-mate
Mark Webber and the Spaniard Fernando Alonso during the last season. Many thought that Vettel would not be the champion this year, and the battle would be amongst Webber and Alonso.
Even team-mate Webber told Vettel to give up on his title hopes and support him to win; but Vettel had other ideas. He won the last two races and took the championship from a situation where it almost seemed impossible for him. There will be a lot of changes
in the next season and Vettel will find it hard to win the title for the second time in a row.
He will face tough competition from the Ferrari and Mclaren teams. The Mercedes team has also vowed to bounce back in 2011. There is no doubt that the Mercedes team has the potential to challenge the front runners in 2011, and they have the legendary Schumacher,
who will be eying an eighth title.
The Red Bull team had benefited with the double diffusers and the F-duct system in the 2010 season, but according to the new regulations both of these innovations will not be a part of the upcoming season. This posts a challenge for the team to develop a
unique system in the car, which can give them the competitive edge over the other teams.
In 2009, it was the Brawn GP team which was one step ahead of all the other teams, when they used the double diffusers which seemed unfair on their competitiors. This gave an extra advantage to Brawn GP and the team dominated the season. Mclaren was the
team that developed the F-ducts and then the design was used by all the top teams during the 2010 season.
Vettel is aware of the challenge which he will face in the next season. He stated, “It is going to be tough next season, the cars will change, and there will be an opportunity for others to catch up. There is a chance for us to do great again, but we will
have to wait and see.”
He also hopes that he will get off to a good start next season unlike the 2010 season. Vettel got off to a poor start last year, as he managed to win only one of the first seven races in the season.
He did have a few mechanical problems with his car though which cost him some crucial points. If he had gained those points, he would have won the title easily. The young German said, “The championship starts with the first race, and I think many points
this year were dropped. We would have been much more comfortable in the end if we got these points, but we didn't, and that is what we had. Surely the target is to use every single opportunity in every race to put yourself in a stronger position, and ideally
have a quieter end to the season.”
The team needs to produce a reliable car for the next season so that Vettel can finish all the races. He is the current champion but it will be interesting to see how the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Fernando
Alonso respond to his challenge next season.
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