Vettel expects Mercedes to be a threat

Sebastian Vettel believes that Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have ‘dangerous’ potential ahead of the new Formula 1 season.

Mercedes impressed in last week’s final Barcelona test, setting fastest times overall with single-lap efforts but also delivering strong long-run pace.

Although it is not clear yet just how much of a step forward Mercedes has made, Vettel believes that Hamilton and Rosberg could surprise.

“I finally took the chance to watch some of the other teams for a bit,” said Vettel, reflecting on the conclusions from last week’s test.

“Nico had a great final day of testing in his Mercedes, which shows how dangerous he and Lewis will be in the future. But there are a lot of others to keep in mind as well.”

Vettel is pleased with Red Bull’s own progress, but has drawn short of predicting that the outfit will be the pacesetter from Australia.

“All in all I am fairly happy with how everything went in these last weeks,” he wrote on his own website.

“The team did a great job with the car and both Mark and I felt comfortable right away.

“We haven’t come across any big problems and the smaller ones have been dealt with straight away. The RB9 has been so reliable that it’s been a pleasure to drive.

“We learned a lot over the winter tests and we’ll be bringing that new knowledge with us to Australia.”

Final F1 test stats:
 
Combined times

Pos Driver                  Team            Time        Gap
  1. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes        1m20.130s
  2. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari         1m20.494s  + 0.364s
  3. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes        1m20.558s  + 0.428s
  4. Felipe Massa            Ferrari         1m21.266s  + 1.136s
  5. Jenson Button           McLaren         1m21.444s  + 1.314s
  6. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber          1m21.541s  + 1.411s
  7. Adrian Sutil            Force India     1m21.627s  + 1.497s
  8. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus           1m21.658s  + 1.528s
  9. Paul di Resta           Force India     1m21.664s  + 1.534s
 10. Pastor Maldonado        Williams        1m22.305s  + 2.175s
 11. Valtteri Bottas         Williams        1m22.468s  + 2.338s
 12. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull        1m22.514s  + 2.384s
 13. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber          1m22.553s  + 2.423s
 14. Mark Webber             Red Bull        1m22.658s  + 2.528s
 15. Sergio Perez            McLaren         1m22.694s  + 2.564s
 16. Romain Grosjean         Lotus           1m22.716s  + 2.586s
 17. Charles Pic             Caterham        1m23.115s  + 2.985s
 18. Jules Bianchi           Marussia        1m23.167s  + 3.037s
 19. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso      1m23.223s  + 3.093s
 20. Davide Valsecchi        Lotus           1m23.448s  + 3.318s
 21. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso      1m23.628s  + 3.498s
 22. Max Chilton             Marussia        1m24.103s  + 3.973s
 23. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham        1m24.235s  + 4.105s
 
Distance by driver

    Driver                  Team             Laps Km
  1. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes         251  1168
  2. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes         230  1070
  3. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari          222  1033
  4. Felipe Massa            Ferrari          206  958
  5. Max Chilton             Marussia         202  940
  6. Sergio Perez            McLaren          201  935
  7. Charles Pic             Caterham         199  926
  8. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber           197  917
  9. Jenson Button           McLaren          194  903
 10. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber           191  889
 11. Romain Grosjean         Lotus            186  865
 12. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham         174  809
 13. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso       173  805
 14. Adrian Sutil            Force India      171  796
 15. Paul Di Resta           Force India      169  786
 16. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull         165  768
 17. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso       152  707
 18. Pastor Maldonado        Williams         151  702
 19. Mark Webber             Red Bull         149  693
 20. Valtteri Bottas         Williams         147  684
 21. Jules Bianchi           Marussia         136  633
 22. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus            50   232
 23. Davide Valsecchi        Lotus            16   74  
 
Distance by team

    Team             Laps         Km
  1. Mercedes         481          2239
  2. Ferrari          428          1992
  3. McLaren          395          1838
  4. Sauber           388          1806
  5. Caterham         373          1736
  6. Force India      340          1582
  7. Marussia         338          1573
  8. Toro Rosso       325          1512
  9. Red Bull         314          1461
 10. Williams         298          1387
 11. Lotus            252          1173
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/vettel-expects-mercedes-to-be-a-threat

Richie Ginther Yves Giraud Cabantous Ignazio Giunti Timo Glock Helm Glöckler