Webber 'not going to bed thinking about Seb'

Mark Webber insists he's not losing any sleep over team-mate Sebastian Vettel and the challenge he will pose during the 2010 season.

Red Bull along with Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes are the favourites to win this year's Championship and many are tipping Vettel to walk away with his maiden world title.

Webber, though, says he's not too bothered about predictions and is just focusing on his own job.

"A lot of people see my team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, as my biggest rival this year," he wrote in The Guardian.

"I have to say that there's a lot of quick drivers out there and some pretty good teams. Seb is going to be a quick driver, no question about it. But I'm not going to bed thinking about him; I'm going to bed thinking about myself and doing the best job I can, to get the best results I can, for myself."

As for Renault's biggest strength this year, the Australian believes continuity will play a major role.

"There's many things to look forward to in this year's Championship. It's good for Red Bull Racing because we've got a lot of continuity in the team. We're still with Renault engines and, driver-wise, we're very stable. Other teams have changed their driver pairings in some way or another and these small things can make a difference when Formula One is as competitive as it is now.

"Seb and I have worked together, along with our engineers and the technicians from Renault, for some time and this will give us a good advantage. You have traits in engineers and drivers and it's difficult to learn the system with such limited time. Some drivers have only a handful of days to get ready for the first race and I think it's going to be interesting when they're under pressure. On race weekends you have to make big decisions at key moments and you don't want to be learning about each other too much at times like that. Continuity is going to be a major strength for us, particularly early on."

This year's major rule change sees refuelling banned during the season and Webber thinks it will result in the early laps being "a bit of a slog".

"Just by looking at the new cars this season, you can tell that the ban on refuelling is going to cause the biggest change," he added. "The cars are like limousines. They're a bit longer because of the need for a larger fuel tank. I'm not particularly bothered by how the cars look - although, saying that, [Red Bull's designer] Adrian Newey has done another fantastic job and the RB6 looks the business - but more important is how the car feels with twice as much fuel on board. Those early laps in the race are going to be a bit of a slog but it will be the same for everyone.

"We've got to do a complete race with one tank of fuel, so we need to be looking after the tyres and making sure we understand them. Race strategies will be very different and the pit stops even faster than before. Previously each stop was determined by the time it took to get the fuel on board, taking anything from five to eight or nine seconds. Now, it's down to simply changing tyres and the pit crews will be doing that in around three seconds, maybe faster once the pit stops are refined."

Source: Webber 'not going to bed thinking about Seb' - Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com