Newey Says Red Bull Is 0.5s Faster than Competition

Red Bull's car designer Adrian Newey is not known to be a vocal man when it comes to car performances, as he usually lets his title-winning cars to do all the talking. However, following Friday's first practice session at Albert Park, during which both Red Bull RB7s driven by Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel dominated the timing reports, Newey let slip his true feelings about the 2011-spec challenger.

According to the British design guru, the Red Bull RB7 is currently half of second faster than any other competitor in the 2011 F1 championship.

“We currently have an advantage of between 3 to 5 tenths,” he told Italy's Corriere della Sera, while insisting however that this advantage should not turn Red Bull into by-standers through the duration of the race at Albert Park.

“But we are not too comfortable,” he added. “If we sit back then we will be in for a nasty surprise. The competition is very hard, Ferrari are strong, and I know McLaren, I have worked there.”

In the second practice session, Red Bull eased their pace and let McLaren Mercedes take control of the timing sheets, settling for 4th (Vettel) and 5th (Webber) fastest at the end of the 90-minute meeting. However, both in the morning and in the afternoon, there was one driver who constantly drove on the pace-setters' tails: Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

“I am convinced that Ferrari will be very strong, so if we are close to them it will mean we are near the top,” admitted a cautious Sebastian Vettel, according to Autosprint.