The reigning World Champ proved to be the man to beat on the first two days of this week's pre-season test. On Friday, he was a massive 1.111s up on Ferrari's Fernando Alonso while on Saturday he beat Jaime Alguersuari by two-tenths.But despite appearing to have the measure over his rivals, Vettel says pre-season lap times have little bearing on what is really going on.
"I don't see it all, because the Championship hasn't started yet," Vettel told Autosport.
"It's winter testing, and everybody is trying to prepare. It's very hard to judge at this stage where you are, how quick the car is.
"You run through your programme. This year with the new tyres it is very hard to read the lap times and performance of the other cars, so I think we have to remain cool and focus on ourselves.
"Obviously we try to improve the car as much as we can and then we'll see when we go racing and when the Championship starts."
Vettel added that being the reigning World Champion doesn't count for much when the new season begins as everyone starts on zero points.
"I think when we start in Bahrain, or somewhere else, we all start with zero points. It doesn't myself if it's me, Heikki (Kovalainen) or anybody else. We all start with zero points.
"Obviously last year was very good for myself and for the team, and the target is there: we want to defend our Championships, but it's a long way.
"I think it's wrong to start the season only focusing on the Championship. We have to focus on the first couple of races, on our car and make it reliable and then very soon you will know how good the car is and if we have the chance to fight for the title or not."
Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting that Red Bull's RB7 is using its moveable rear wing in places none of their rivals' cars are using it, such as in the middle of the fast heading onto the main straight.
Source: Planet-F1
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