A relaxed Sebastian Vettel played down his early-season points advantage as he arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya ahead of his bid for a first Spanish Grand Prix win.
The defending drivers’ world champion said he expected a tough season ahead and a close battle this weekend on a circuit where he has never won and where his 34-points lead will mean nothing when the lights go out.
The 23-year-old German said: “It’s a long way to go and we are in the start of the season now. Many things can happen so I’m not thinking this or that.
“So much can go on during one season. So, right now, I’m not feeling comfortable or worried at the moment. I’m just taking it race by race.”
His Australian Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, 34, was also in relaxed mood ahead of the fifth round of the championship and his pursuit of a first win this year. AFP
Vettel led Webber in a Red Bull 1-2 in Turkey to hold a 34-point lead over second-place Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, the only other driver to have won a race so far.
Neither Vettel, who has been on pole position for five straight races stretching to last year, or Hamilton have triumphed in Barcelona before. But Webber sensed the competition was closing the gap as F1 returns to Europe.
“We need a perfect weekend. We know that,” the Australian driver said. “To win at this level you need to get everything right.” The Canadian Press
Webber said: “Two tracks stood out for us last year - here and Hungary. But that was as much a surprise for us as it was for the other guys.
“Of course we hope to have a nice advantage again coming to this venue, but it’s not a given.
“The car should perform well around here. The gap in qualifying was quite big, and the gap to Lewis [Hamilton] was under control, but it was a bit different to qualifying.
“That’s what we’ve seen for the last two years with the Red Bull. We have been strong in qualifying, and still strong (but not as strong) in races. I hope we still have a good gap.” BBC Sport
Pos Driver Team Points 1 Sebastian VettelRBR-Renault 93 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 59 3 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 55 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 46 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 41 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 24 7 Nick Heidfeld Renault 21 8 Vitaly Petrov Renault 21 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 20 10 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 8 11 Michael SchumacherMercedes 6 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 6 13 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 2 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 2 15 Jaime AlguersuariSTR-Ferrari 0 16 Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth 0 17 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 0 18 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 0 19 Jerome d'AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth 0 20 Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault 0 21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 0 22 Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth 0 23 Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth 0 24 Vitantonio LiuzziHRT-Cosworth 0
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