Secondly, whether Vettel or Weber drove, the Red Bull was the car to beat. Both drivers set comfortably faster laps than their main rivals, although over a long test stint, the average times from Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari were within a couple of tenths. Stories from McLaren indicate that they may have been running the car with low fuel loads to improve the times, while Ferrari seem to be struggling with a radical car design and may need a few races to unlock its potential.
Most of the technical discussion has focused on a mysterious duct on top of the Red Bull’s nose. Designer Adrian Newey insists it’s to keep the drivers cool, but no one seems to be buying this! Smart money is on a duct guiding air back to the rear diffuser, but we probably won’t know for sure until the first race
F1 returnee Kimi Raikkonen has settled in very quickly at Lotus after a couple of seasons sulking in a rally car. Hopefully, he won’t need his new off-road skills during the season. With him back, for the first time ever there will be six world champions on the grid – Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Schumacher and Raikkonen – and any of them could be race winners.
But there’s still four weeks until the first race, and almost every part you can see of every car will be redesigned by then. At the moment, my tip is Vettel and Red Bull to make it three-in-a-row.
Vettel is currently 11/10 to be crowned champion driver whilst Red Bull are 10/11 to lift the Constructors Championship. click on the Bet Now button for the latest markets and match betting.
