Jean-Eric Vergne has revealed he will try to keep the “tension” down to a minimum inside the Toro Rosso garage in 2012.
Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz this week has admitted that, beyond Mark Webber’s 2012 contract, “Our primary goal is to put one of our juniors” alongside Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull.

With Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari ousted by the energy drink’s Faenza based secondary team after 2011, those most eligible juniors are now French rookie Vergne and his new Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

At Jerez last week in the new STR7 car, their rivalry got off to a fascinating start.

By the end of the four days of running, their fastest laps were separated by no more than one hundredth of a second — with Ricciardo enjoying the miniscule edge for the moment.

With a Red Bull seat up for grabs, 21-year-old Vergne admitted to RMC radio that the stakes are high.

But “There was not too much tension,” he insists. “You have to forget about all those different aspects when you think about the work you need to do.

“We had four good days of testing. The engineers are working now for the next test in Barcelona at the end of the month.

“There is a competition with my teammate but at the same time we can’t (let it) go in the wrong direction.

“You always want to beat everybody but my teammate is also the only other person who is working on the very same car as me,” added Vergne.

Sebastian Vettel will certainly win the 2011 world championship, according to Germany.
The SID news agency commissioned market research company Promit to ask Germans if their countryman Vettel is a sure bet to become F1′s first back-to-back world champion since Fernando Alonso five years ago.

An overwhelming 74.4 per cent answered yes, with only 11.8 per cent believing that one of the Red Bull driver’s rivals – like Alonso or the McLaren duo – can win the 2011 title.

Lewis Hamilton, who along with his teammate Jenson Button as well as Ferrari’s Alonso prevented Vettel from winning a single race in July, thinks he still has a chance.

“There are 200 points up for grabs and I will enter all the races believing I can win them,” the Briton told the Daily Star newspaper.

“It is going to be an exciting run down to the last race in Brazil and I can’t wait for the next round in Belgium.

“Our car’s pace is there right now as we have shown with our wins, mine in Germany with the fastest lap and Jenson’s in Hungary.

“The car’s on song because of our excellent qualifying pace at both,” said Hamilton.

Jun.16 (GMM)  Williams is reportedly set to retain an unchanged driver lineup for the 2011 season.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that while rookie Nico Hulkenberg is regarded as a long-term investment for the British team, Williams is also happy with the performance of the Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello.

“Without Rubens, we would be nowhere,” team co-owner and principal Sir Frank Williams is quoted as saying.

The lineups at top teams Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull will also stay the same for 2011, while Robert Kubica looks likely to stay at Renault.

Rookie Vitaly Petrov has done enough in 2010 to also keep his seat, but Auto Motor und Sport says his sponsorship money must continue to flow.

“I’m afraid,” said Mercedes reserve driver Nick Heidfeld, “that the top ten seats (for 2011) are gone already.”

Meanwhile, if Force India has a vacancy, it will almost certainly go to the promising reserve driver Paul di Resta, and Toro Rosso would select from Red Bull’s young driver pool, such as the Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

Both of Sauber’s race seats might be up for grabs for 2011, but if that is the case, the market’s leading pay drivers – like the Mexican GP2 driver Sergio Perez – are regarded to be at the head of the queue.