Sebastian Vettel may never win with Red Bull again in F1
Published:World champion Sebastian Vettel has had a low key start to the season to say the least. The German finds himself fifth in the drivers’ championship and 5/1 to retain his title.
Vettel heads into the Bahrain Grand Prix this week after finishing behind teammate Mark Webber in two of this season’s three races so far, something that has seldom happened over the last two years.
The two-time champion has struggled to manipulate the new Red Bull RB8 car to the best of his abilities, so much so, that he has been out-qualified in every race by his teammate and has started no higher than fifth on the grid so far this season, a long way back for a man who dominated the front row last year.
Webber, who finds himself as a 16/1 shot to win the championship, has adapted to the new car in a much better manner than his counterpart, he has taken the new developments on board and has shown consistent form with three fourth-placed finishes.
Vettel has been erratic to say the least, finishing second in Australia, 11th in Malaysia and fifth in China.
He has struggled to deal with small changes to his car and even went back to the original-spec RB 8 in Shanghai to address the qualifying pace between the two Red Bulls; he still qualified behind Webber.
The Australian alternatively has learnt to handle the car in a more efficient way, mastering the performance at both low and high speed, a skill that Vettel has yet to develop, opting instead to go back to the drawing board with the early season car.
Vettel is 7/1 to take his first victory of the season in Bahrain, but if he continues to toil with his car, then Webber may offer better value to score a victory for Red Bull in the Middle East.
