Red Bull half a second in front – Newey

Red Bull’s new car enters the 2011 season with a significant advantage, designer Adrian Newey has admitted.

Until now, figures at the reigning championship-winning team have played down speculation the RB7 is clearly faster than its nearest competitor, Ferrari.

But before Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel went significantly faster than any rival in initial Friday practice in Australia, Newey told Italy’s Corriere della Sera: “We currently have an advantage of between 3 to 5 tenths.”

Perhaps realising he had let the cat out of the bag, however, the Briton quickly added: “But we are not too comfortable.

“If we sit back then we will be in for a nasty surprise.  The competition is very hard, Ferrari are strong, and I know McLaren, I have worked there.”

According to Autosprint, Vettel remains cautious.

“I am convinced that Ferrari will be very strong, so if we are close to them it will mean we are near the top,” said the German.

© RIF | GMM