Red Bull and Vettel putting serious scare into Formula One teams
In
the spirit of Halloween, a question that provokes fear: Who’s gonna drive a stake into the heart of Red Bull?
No, not this season, because it’s too late for that, with Sebastian Vettel set to secure his fourth straight Formula One drivers’ title at this weekend’s Grand Prix of India.
To finish the job, the German needs only to steer his Red Bull to fifth place or better on Sunday at the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi.
Given that he’s won the last five races, and nine of 15 so far this season, odds are good Vettel will successfully defend his crown with three races to spare.
F1 has raced in India twice before, and Vettel won both times.
On Friday, he posted the fastest lap times of all drivers during the morning and afternoon practice sessions.
Of course, it’s always possible that a metaphorical black cat might cross his path on Sunday, as happened in Britain at the end of June, when a gearbox failure knocked Vettel out of the race.
Aside f rom that bit of bad luck, though, 2013 has been kind to Vettel, who has finished on the podium at every venue except China and Spain, where he placed fourth both times.
The last time he finished outside the top five was at the final race of 2012, in Brazil, where he came in sixth — still good enough to beat Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to the title by a slim three points.
This time around, Vettel’s gap to Alonso in the drivers’ standings is much wider — 297 points vs. 207 — while in the constructors’ table Red Bull leads Ferrari 445 points to 297, with Mercedes menacing for the No. 2 spot at 287.
No wonder all teams have already turned their focus on preparing for the 2014 campaign when, they hope, big changes to the formula in Formula One will help relevel the playing field.
As Alonso’s put it: “We start from zero next year, completely from zero.”
“There is a big change in the regulations and this is our best opportunity to close the gap,” he told a news conference last month, Makes sense, right? Well, yes and no. It’s true Ferrari starts from the same blank sheet as Red Bull under the new rules, the biggest of which is a switch to turbo-charged V6 engines from today’s normally aspirated V8s.
But then again, so will everyone else.
With the changes, more teams will now have the potential to become the next F1 powerhouse.
And that means more competition, not less.
Remember 2009? The newly christened Brawn squad emerged from nowhere to dominate the season after a similar reset, with Jenson Button winning six races that year and his first and so-faronly championship.
Looking at Ferrari, it’s hard to see how the uncertainty of 2014 puts it in a better position than it found itself at the beginning of 2013, when the picture was clearer and, arguably, rosier for the red team.
Think about it. In 2012, Alonso narrowly missed out on winning the championship. In 2013, F1 returned virtually unchanged, allowing Ferrari the chance to pick up where it left off and close the small gap to Red Bull.
It failed, we now know. Big time. While Red Bull managed to perfect an already great car, Ferrari spun its wheels and turned up with the same old problems, notably in qualifying.
Now, it’s anyone’s guess when or if Alonso will get that close again, despite his proclamations.
So back to our Halloween question: Who’s going to stick it to Red Bull in 2014?
Time will tell, but one scenario — the scariest, if you’re not a Vettel fan — is that his reign will continue for the foreseeable future.
Among the subscribers to that school of thought is Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane, who has aptly described Vettel’s stranglehold on F1 as “souldestroying” and sees no reason why that will change under the revised formula.
“Let’s face it — Red Bull are better at building a quicker car now, so why are they not going to be better at building it next year?” Permane told Autosport.
“Red Bull are still going to be the team to beat next year, and Vettel will be the man to beat.”
Speaking in particular about Ferrari, he added: “Forget it, they are not even close. And they won’t even be close next year, if (Red Bull) have got that sort of advantage now.”
Scary.