Motor racing: Vettel bullish about chances of a fifth title

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel will fight it out in tomorrow's race at Albert Park, Melbourne. Photo / AP

F1 rivals reminded season is long and engine problems will be resolved

We have a lot of good people on board with a lot of strong resources.Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel has a warning for those already writing off his chances of a fifth consecutive Formula One title: the season is long and the team's engine problems won't last.

The Red Bull driver has had a troubled offseason, with the team severely restricted in its testing because engine supplier Renault suffered many problems trying to make the sport's new six-cylinder turbo hybrid powertrain function in anything approaching a reliable fashion.

While Vettel acknowledged that Mercedes will be the team to beat in this weekend's season-opening race in Australia and Red Bull will likely be off the pace in early races, he was adamant another title was within his reach.

"We are not in the best position for this race, but it's a different story when you talk about the championship," Vettel said.

He did not have far to look for inspiration about how to overcome early season difficulties as he was speaking while sitting beside Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, who found himself in a similar predicament in 2012.

"Two years back Fernando was on the grid with 1.5 seconds to pole, and very close to beating us for the title at the very last race, so anything can happen," Vettel said. "We are a strong team. We have a lot of good people on board with a lot of strong resources. We should progress as the season goes on."

Red Bull was not alone in suffering severe problems in the offseason. While the ongoing troubles are expected to particularly afflict the Renault-powered cars in the early races, all teams will be anxious. The new computer-controlled engines must balance the power supply between the combustion engine, turbo charger, and the battery-stored electric power, the role of which is vastly greater than in previous years.

Added to that is the need to reduce fuel use by about a third on last year to meet new rules, understand the altered aerodynamics and get used to new tyres. Little wonder that F1 officials have relaxed the curfew restricting how many hours engineers and crew can spend in pit lane working on the cars.

Some bleak forecasters are even predicting there will not be enough finishers tomorrow to fill the 10 points positions, and race director Charlie Whiting was asked questions about the contingency plans if no cars are running. Simple answer: the race will be stopped.

While such doomsday scenarios are very unlikely, there was a strong possibility of several cars not getting within 7 per cent of the pole sitter's qualifying time and therefore being excluded from the race.

Stewards have always had some discretion to exempt teams from that rule and Whiting said that Melbourne's stewards will look upon such scenarios in Melbourne "very sympathetically".

The men considered most likely to vie for that pole-sitting yardstick are the Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who in contrast to most drivers enjoyed smooth and impressive testing sessions.

• Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso set the fastest time yesterday's opening practice, while Hamilton was one of several drivers to strike trouble as entire field struggled to master their all-new engines and radically redesigned cars.

Hamilton was unable to complete a single lap after his Mercedes engine automatically shut down due to an oil pressure alarm on his first tour of the Albert Park circuit.

Australian GP:

Melbourne, tomorrow 6.55pm, SS4

- AP