INTERVIEW-Quiet Red Bull plan their title charge

Posted at 12:00am on 02 February 2010

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Absent Red Bull are happy to let rivals hog the limelight in Formula One testing this week because they expect their new car to be worth the wait.

In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, team principal Christian Horner said Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber would be stronger than ever this season after chasing Jenson Button for the title last year.

The Briton defended the decision to stay away from the opening test in Valencia and was gratified to see similarities between some of the new cars and last year's Red Bull.

Germany's Vettel was runner-up to Button, who has since left Brawn for McLaren, in 2009 while Australian Webber won two races and in the process set a record for the longest wait for a victory.

The Australian was still limping at the Melbourne season-opener after breaking his leg in a cycling accident the previous November but the 33-year-old can expect to be on the start in Bahrain on March 14 with a monkey off his back.

"Compared to 2009 obviously he is much better prepared in that he's been able to train properly throughout the winter," said Horner.

"He had a small surgery in the end of November just to remove a couple of screws from the plate within his leg which has given him a lot more movement and freedom to train thoroughly.

"Sebastian has obviously been working extremely hard on his fitness as well and I'm quietly confident that both drivers will be bang on the pace."

Red Bull won the last three races of 2009, with Vettel closing out the season with a win in Abu Dhabi and eager to pick up next month where he left off in November.

BETTER STRATEGY

"Sebastian is such a young guy I think he will only have developed and grown stronger and benefited from his experiences in 2009," continued Horner.

"He just continued to grow throughout the 2009 season, so he goes into 2010 with two years of experience under his belt.

"He has five grand prix wins, pole positions and fastest laps and there is only one trophy missing from his cabinet at the moment."

The leading teams, including Michael Schumacher's Mercedes (formerly Brawn), have presented their new cars but Red Bull are are not due to launch theirs until next week.

"The main thinking was, as we did last year, to give Adrian (Newey) and our designers as much research and development time as possible," said Horner.

"It's a better strategy to maximise development time. It served us well in 2009 and with two tests in Jerez and one in Barcelona, we feel that is sufficient preparation for the season.

"It's an aggressive approach but, as you've seen, the reliability of the current cars is extremely high and last year I think on the first day of RB5 we did 90 laps in Jerez and have similar high targets for this year," he added.

"So I don't think there is any gamble."

Horner said the new RB6 was on schedule, with half the official crash tests passed.

While seven times champion Schumacher announced his comeback with Mercedes, Button moved to McLaren and Renault rang the changes, Red Bull are the only team with the same lineup as before and have had a quiet winter.

"We have maintained total focus on our own performance and development," said Horner.

"We have had continuity across all aspects of the team...we follow with interest some of the other developments but we are happy focusing on ourselves. I'd be more than happy for others to have the headlines at the moment."

(Editing by Justin Palmer; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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