Phil Carpenter | Postmedia News
Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel will start this 2013 F1 season as the reigning three-time champion and will have a large field of contenders — including Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Jensen Button and Mark Webber — to fend off this season. The first grand prix starts on March 17 in Melbourne, Australia.
STUTTGART — Sebastian Vettel for the fourth time, or perhaps a new champion?
Ahead of the new Formula One season the question is whether the three-time champion from Germany again dominates or whether Fernando Alonso or another top driver can win the drivers’ crown.
“It all points to it again being very tight,” Red Bull driver Vettel has himself said as the teams get ready for the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, in Melbourne on March 17.
Most of the other drivers realize Vettel and Red Bull are the benchmark. “Red Bull will again be the team everyone has to beat,” commented Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.
The season though is looking difficult to forecast. Vettel may be the favorite but Alonso, who was beaten by just three points to the championship last season, is certainly a candidate, while the likes of Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren’s Jenson Button, the Mercedes pair of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber should be among the contenders.
“You don’t have to be a genius to have an idea who are among the favorites. It will be the usual suspects,” said 25-year-old Vettel.
Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus and especially Mercedes impressed with lap times in the pre-season testing sessions, but these tests are notoriously unreliable when it comes to forecasting actual racing. Red Bull, for one, did not really show their hand in testing.
Technical regulations have barely changed from last season, but the tires could be a factor again. During tests even drivers like Button, who has a reputation for knowing how to handle his tires, has had problems with the new Pirelli rubbers. Yet a start to the season like last year — when the first seven races produced seven different winners — is unlikely in view of the few technical and regulation alterations.
Vettel believes the RB9 is a step forward from last year, while Alonso also goes into the season in an upbeat mood with Ferrari.
“We have now a car that is responding well to what we change on the car,” the 31-year-old Spaniard said during testing. “We have a car that is doing what we expected the car to do.”
Mercedes hope for a change of fortune with new driver Hamilton, signed from McLaren. The team has even had to play down expectations following fast times in testing in Barcelona.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Mercedes had recorded “some head-turning times” and “will be a factor this season.”
However Red Bull is as determined as ever to stay at the top after winning three successive double world titles — drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
“The pressure is off in certain respects, but in other ways we put pressure on ourselves to keep the roll going that we have been on over the last few years,” Horner said.
“There is a real determination in this team to keep this run of success going and to do our best to defend these titles.”
