“Things have changed a lot in the space of 12 months. Although at this point last year, the Toro Rosso car was improving and even if we saw we were competitive even in Friday practice, my pole and win were something of a surprise to everyone,” said Vettel in a press preview for the Italian Grand Prix.
“This year, Red Bull Racing and me and Mark are fighting for the championship titles, so we are considered front-runners. It doesn't put me under any more pressure, but it does mean that our expectations are higher,” added the German driver.
Vettel is currently 19 points behind championship leader Jenson Button, but Red Bull Racing need to really step up their development programme in order to close in on the championship frontrunners. There are only 5 races to go until the curtain will finally be pulled down on the 2009 season and only a few chances for the Milton Keynes team to squeeze some points out of Brawn.
Talking about RBR's poor pace during the last few races – only 2 podiums in the last 3 rounds – teammate Mark Webber urged his team to focus solely on their development rate rather than on what the other outfits are doing in the series.
“We have got to focus on ourselves and do the best job we can. It's not the case of 'we have to try harder'. We're trying very, very hard; it's just that we haven't been as strong as we were at Silverstone, Nurburgring (or) places like that,” said Webber.
“We can't control Brawn's performances or Force India or whoever's turned it up this week. It's up to us to get the most out of our package and make sure that we do the business in each session and are there for Q3 and in a good position. That's all we did in the past and that's what we have to do in the future,” added the Aussie driver.
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