Defending champion Vettel wary of Webber threat

German quashes favourite tag ahead of new Formula One season.

LONDON: World champion Sebastian Vettel insisted on Sunday that he was not the overwhelming favourite for a fourth successive Formula One title and believed his main threat could come from Red Bull teammate Mark Webber.

The season roars into action on March 17 in Melbourne, with 19 races scheduled over nine months with the season closer in Brazil on November 24.

“It’s one thing to look back at what we have achieved as a team, but really I feel that we all start again from zero,” said Germany’s Vettel, who became the youngest man to win three straight titles in 2012 at the age of 25.

“If anything the expectations are there, people expect something, but more than that, we expect ourselves to do well again so there’s a lot of pressure.

“It will be tough — tough to beat Mark (Webber), tough to beat the other guys and the other teams because they will try everything to beat us.

“The best drivers are in the best teams. Fernando (Alonso) certainly is one of them. Mark is one of them, Lewis (Hamilton) is one of them and there are others, but I usually don’t like to name them as there’s a chance of forgetting one of them and that’s not the idea. I think it’s the usual suspects.”

Team boss hopes for more success

Meanwhile, Red Bull unveiled their car for the new season on Sunday with team boss Christian Horner saying the desire for more success is as great as ever.

“As always the competition is phenomenal, so to have won three in a row is quite remarkable. It’s testimony to all the hard work that has gone on,” said the 39-year-old Horner. “We’re still a young team, but we’re evolving and there is a fierce determination to keep those trophies for another year.”

Horner also defended recent criticism by team advisor Helmut Marko who questioned Webber’s capacity of maintaining a season long challenge for the title.

“If we weren’t happy with Mark we would never have signed him for this year. We give both drivers equal opportunity and it’s down to what they do on the circuit.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.