According to the current president of the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), what the Australian Grand Prix showed to the world was indeed the fact that Red Bull are ahead of their rivals in the series, but that position should not provide them with too much comfort ahead of the next 17 races. Once you're on top, the others will put all their efforts in catching up, whereas the leaders won't have any benchmark to follow.
“It's difficult to maintain a peak if you've a car to perfection when you arrive in the championship,” argued Hill, according to planetf1.com. “Everybody else will just follow and catch up, so I'm sure the gap will close, and it will be more like last season with a handful of guys in the frame well beyond the halfway stage.”
Vettel won pole position at Melbourne by more than 8 tenths of a second and the race by over 22 seconds, without even using the yet-to-be-properly-developed KERS unit. Nevertheless, the 1996 world champion insists this won't happen race in and race out in 2011. Quite the contrary.
“I don't think it is going to be a walkover for Sebastian. The first race is usually just a marker. People will catch up and it definitely won't be plain sailing for Red Bull all the way through the season.”
As far as KERS is concerned, the power-boosting unit is regarded as a great asset this weekend due to the two long straights it can be used on, so Red Bull have vowed to do everything in their power to have it prepared for the Sepang event.
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