COOPER: And So It Begins

Formula 1

COOPER: And So It Begins

Many people assumed that the RBR steamroller would continue into this season...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 17, 2012 Melbourne (AUS)

Red Bull-Renault driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany locks up during qualifying for Formula One's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 17, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

We may be only a couple of days into the 2012 season, but so far it has lived up to expectations. The contrast with last year, when Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull basically ran away with everything, could not be greater.

Going into qualifying nobody could be sure who would end up on top, and we ended up with the unusual sight of two McLarens, a Lotus and a Mercedes at the front – and the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Vettel together on the third row.

Many people assumed that the RBR steamroller would continue into this season, but there were signs in testing that all was not going quite as smoothly as in previous years. There were a few niggling problems, and while the pace was obviously there, it didn’t seem to come as easily as it had. And more importantly many other teams that showed signs of decent performance.

Here in Melbourne things were turned upside down a bit by the rain on Friday that left the teams unable to complete their usual programs of preparation. Times were largely irrelevant, but again the RB8s did not pop up at the top of the screens, as one would expect them to do.

Today started badly when Vettel spun into a gravel trap in FP3, a sign that a) he was trying and b) he wasn’t yet comfortable with the limits of the car in qualifying trim.

He went across the grass early in Q1 and made a mistake on his final lap in Q3, and that’s what ultimately consigned him to sixth – far from a total disaster, but hugely disappointing by the team’s usual standards.

And those reliability niggles struck again as Webber lost his KERS partly through qualifying. That meant some extra work as driver and team had to adjust to its absence, and it also cost a clear 0.3s in lap time. Despite that he still ended up in front of Vettel, which was some kind of boost for the local hero.

The bottom line is that RBR has lost the advantage that it used to have, and how much of that is due to the disappearance of the blown diffuser is impossible to quantify. Of course the car is still fast – it may yet win in Australia if those ahead have trouble, and it could well be on pole on the sweeping fast turns of Malaysia. But it could all change again in the races after that.

The opposition is so strong now that the car won’t be able to head the field each weekend with the sort of relentless inevitability that we saw last year. And when the pressure is on, team and driver can make mistakes, as Vettel did today.

“We knew there were some quick guys out there, to be honest, particularly McLaren,” said Webber tonight. “Mercedes also looked a little bit threatening in the build-up to this event. That’s F1. Everyone thinks we always have special stuff here and there to keep coming back, but it’s opened it right up clearly. We’re aware where we need to improve, and that’s something which we will look at.

“I don’t know what happened to Seb’s last lap, it looks like he might have made a mistake. I didn’t have KERS either, and that doesn’t help. More for the rhythm, I think in the middle of qualifying when you lose KERS it’s quite draining on the engineers, also for the driver, to get them used to what we need to do. In the end I’m very satisfied with the job I did in Q3. One run, and not a bad lap considering the situation.”

Webber played down the loss of KERS, but there’s no doubt that it cost him dearly.

“You know starting the lap without KERS, it’s certainly not a positive thing. I had to go again in Q2 because we had some understanding to do obviously without the KERS on braking. We went again, and that lap wasn’t ideal because I made a mistake.

“I had one run to do, one lap only [in Q3], and that lap worked out quite well to be honest, so I don’t think I could have done a huge amount more. I think the lap was one tenth off the optimum, and then you put three-tenths there [for KERS].”

He’s certainly not given up on the race, and given the carnage we often see here, anything could happen. He’s also pretty sure that in race trim he has a competitive package, one that might help him to jump at least some of the cars that start ahead.

“We’re certainly looking to go forward. Fifth is my lucky number here! But also keeping in my mind it’s a long year. We need to leave here with some points in the bank, and massage more out of this car quite quickly. I feel we will find out tomorrow, and also we’ll find out next Sunday how we are on Sunday afternoons, but I think Saturdays are probably not one of our strengths at the moment.

“So let’s see how it works out tomorrow and let’s see how it works out on a different track in Malaysia and how the tires will behave at that event, and let’s see how we need to shift our focus. That’s obviously got to be of interest to us as a team.”

Mercedes McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain gives the 'thumbs-up' to fans after winning pole position in the qualifying session of Formula One's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 17, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

Webber’s own performance was impressive, and as mentioned he still beat Vettel, which will be good for his confidence. The significant thing is that he feels a lot happier with the 2012 spec car.

“It’s pretty clear from winter that I’ve been much more comfortable with the car, but it’s all relative. I’m not happy where we are on the grid. It’s disappointing for all of us in the team that we’re where we are. It was good in the past to be there, the last few years we’ve had, but the bar’s been lifted so we have to press on and focus on how we can improve.

“It’s the tires a bit, but I started to get a handle on those at the back end of last year. I think the blown diffuser... The cars were very different, all cars not just ours, in terms of how the blown diffuser worked on the way into the corners, and it was very sensitive to RPM, and that changed the car balance quite a lot. These cars are a little bit more traditional. The blown diffusers were quite an extreme bit of kit, and I probably never got my teeth right into those.”

The fact is that RBR has done an extraordinary job of late, and if you look back to 2009 – when non-finishes cost Vettel a chance of really challenging Button and Brawn to the title – the team has been the pacesetter for three seasons. To sustain that into a fourth would be an extraordinary achievement for anyone.

A couple of days ago Christian Horner made some interesting comments about the pressure to succeed after the double titles.

“In some ways it’s more and in some ways it’s less,” he said. “It’s less in the sense that we’ve achieved it and we have now four World Championships that are registered in history, and more in that you want to retain those trophies, and there’s a determination within the team having enjoyed the kind of success that we’ve enjoyed over the last two or three seasons to maintain that level and improve from where we were last year. We can only do our best. Whether our best will be good enough we’ll only know when you count the points up at the end of the year.”

One thing is for sure, if the team does have a disappointing Sunday, it will bounce back, as it is relentless in its pursuit of success.

“I think you can always improve in every area,” said Horner. “Our philosophy has always been to look inwardly – even at races you win, what could you have done better? You’re always learning because as soon as you become complacent it’s a very dangerous thing in this business, and you go backwards very quickly.

“So we’re always looking to make progress across the board, whether that be operationally, whether that be performance wise, reliability wise, speed of production, logistically, so in all areas we constantly look inwardly.”

It will be interesting to see exactly how much searching will have to be done after Sunday’s race...

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED