Vettel has fab four in sight

No driver in the history of Formula One has won four championships before the age of 30 but being first has become something of a habit for Sebastian Vettel.

The 25-year-old Red Bull driver became the youngest triple champion last year and the German with the cheeky grin and raised single finger will start the new season in Australia next week as favourite for a fourth title.

The youngest points scorer, podium finisher, race winner and champion – who could become only the third driver after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to win four successive crowns – may be facing his toughest task yet, however.

Vettel ended testing in Spain last weekend without fanfare and as the only driver from the leading five teams to fail to top any of the end-of-day timesheets over the 12 days.

“I would say that we never had a winter that was less conclusive than this one,” Vettel told reporters in Spain, recognising that the team had not ticked all their boxes on the test track.

“I think it is impossible for all of us to read the pace of the cars and to make out any favourites.”

While rivals suspect that Red Bull have deliberately masked the potential of Adrian Newey’s latest creation, there is hope that the gap between the champions and the rest may have narrowed.

Vettel, who took his first crown by stealth in 2010 and his third last year with a second-half surge, will still be the man every driver wants to beat when the red start lights go out.

The lifelong Beatles fan may have a long and winding road ahead of him but even if it all starts off as a bit of a mystery tour, magical or otherwise, he has every chance of staying at number one with his own fab four.

“He is still the favourite,” said Frenchman Alain Prost, the only other four-times Formula One champion, who took his last title in 1993 at the age of 38. “Behind him, it’s hard to say.”

The swansong for the screaming V8 engines, before they are swept away in 2014 by the arrival of a costly new V6 turbocharged unit with energy recovery systems, means the regulations are barely changed this season.

New Pirelli tyre compounds, designed to encourage more frequent pitstops and overtaking with high levels of degradation, introduce an element of uncertainty however.

Last season started with seven different winners in the opening seven races and this year saw nine different drivers leading the timesheets on the first nine days of testing.

“We’re not on our own, that’s for sure,” said Vettel’s Australian team-mate Mark Webber of the level of competition the champions face.

After three double championships in a row, Red Bull may have less pressure on them than rivals starved of success but the battle could be faster and more furious than ever.

Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who was overall runner-up last year, declared his new Ferrari F138 to be 200 times better and on another planet compared to the old F2012 at the same point last year.

“Last year was the best year of my career and I was very happy with the performance, but I think this year will be better,” said the Spaniard.

“We have a better starting point, and I have learned from some mistakes of last year...I have prepared better. I am better than last year.”

Mercedes put in some impressively quick laps, after a shaky start, with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg well inside the Barcelona race lap record while also putting in the hard miles. How 2008 world champion Hamilton goes after a move that surprised many is one of the big questions to be answered and he has sounded more confident after initially playing down his title prospects.

“We will definitely be able to win a race at some point,” said the Briton, who plans to take his Bulldog ‘Roscoe’ to some races after securing a special pass from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

2013 calendar

March 17: Australia (Albert Park).
March 24: Malaysia (Sepang International Circuit).
April 14: China (Shanghai International Circuit).
April 21: Bahrain (Bahrain International Circuit).
May 12: Spain (Circuit de Catalunya).
May 26: Monaco (Monte Carlo).
June 9: Canada (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve).
June 30: Britain (Silverstone).
July 7: German (Nurburgring).
July 28: Hungary (Hungaroring).
August 25: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps).
September 8: Italy (Monza).
September 22: Singapore (Marina Bay Street Circuit).
October 6: Korea (Korean International Circuit).
October 13: Japan (Suzuka).
October 27: India (Buddh International Circuit).
November 3: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina Circuit).
November 17: United States (Circuit of the Americas).
November 24: Brazil (Interlagos).