ringo wrote:Just a hunch, i feel Webber was enough of a challenge on his best day, and at Webber's age, he had to be much slower than when he was in his prime. Daniel has proven to be very quick, reaching Q3 a number of times with Torro Rosso. He's young and hungry for success. I think he will pile a lot of pressure on Vettel, who hasn't really been proven yet to be faster than any decent F1 driver in their prime.
Worst that we don't have exhuast blowing, Vettel's adaptation to tat technology wont be of much help to him now. Daniel will take advantage of that.
So yes i feel this year will be very interesting in the redbull camp, and i don't think Horner would mind if Daniel actually beat the 4 time champ this year. That situation would better promote their driver program.
Even in 2009, their first year as teammates, I believe Vettel beat Webber 15-2 in quali. (There was no EBD etc in that season at all.)
Secondly, Mark Webber was not that old as he is made to be. He retired at the age of 37 (born August 1976).
For perspective: in 2006 Schumi was 37 years old (born Jan 1969). So in his 2006 season, he was 8 months older compared to Webber's last season in 2013. That season based on Q2 times, Micheal was on the average a tad over 5 tenths quicker than Massa (who had edge in quali against Kimi in 2007-2009 period).
Webber was a very good qualifier. However what is said above are just excuses but not very good ones for Vettel-Webber pair. Of course, none of this will be relevant when Vettel and Ricciardo face each other. That we will have to wait and see...