Sebastian Vettel says it’s no secret that Red Bull doesn’t have the pace or the reliability to compete with the front-running teams at present.
The German completed a respectable 78 laps on the final day of pre-season testing. However Red Bull were running the power unit at decreased power in order to collect as much data as possible, and therefore Vettel’s best time was over four seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton’s best.
When asked if he was worried about their laptimes, he replied: “Yeah, we are; it’s not a secret.
“We cannot do the times that the guys at the top are doing for a couple of reasons, but at the moment we have bigger problems to solve than just the pace.”
The team has 12 days until first practice for the Australian Grand Prix. Whilst testing is over, the team will remain in Bahrain for a 100km filming day.
Vettel is hoping they can use that time wisely, but says it’s unlikely they’ll be challening at the front in Melbourne.
“We haven’t done enough laps, the speed is not there compared to some other teams so we have to wait and see when we get there.
“But surely things will calm down. We have to use the two weeks that we have until then to fit new parts to the car and build it to the best knowledge that we currently have.”
Red Bull have completed the third fewest laps over the 12 days of testing at just 320. That’s a third of what Mercedes has completed and just three more than Marussia.
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