Vettel: « Driving a 2007 car will be an advantage! »

Sebastian Vettel believes that his Toro Rosso team will have an advantage at the start of the season because in Melbourne it will be 2007 cars that will start.

The Italian Scuderia does not intend to present its new car before the fourth or fifth round of the 2008 championship. They believe that seeing Vettel in a STR2 could prove to be an advantage in the early rounds in the spring.

« At the moment, the car is looking really good, » said Vettel in an interview on the official F1 website.

We will have the new car either in Bahrain or in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. We will start the season with an evolution of the 2007 car, the STR2B.

« In fact, I consider it an advantage to start the season with a car that I know well and that has overcome reliability issues in the last quarter of the 2007 season, » added the German.

« At the start of the season, we can be better compared to other teams. We will have a car with all known features whereas others will have to overcome reliability issues. »

Moreover, Vettel said there was no set date for the launch of the new car.

« Nothing has been set yet. For the moment, we have other concerns than the launch of the new car. We need to ensure that the performance of the STR2B is as great as possible. »

« We must also ensure that the development of the STR3 is heading in the right direction so that we have a competitive car immediately after its launch. By that time, all the other teams will have resolved many of their reliability issues, » he concluded.