Red Bull has poured cold water on expectations the reigning back to back world champions could be set to resume their reign over formula one.

After a victory drought spanning the opening three races of the 2012 season, Red Bull broke through with Sebastian Vettel’s familiar win-from-pole triumph in Bahrain last weekend.

It means he has leapt to the top of the drivers’ standings, while the Milton Keynes based team is now 9 points clear of its nearest rival, McLaren.

“King Sebastian is back!” exclaimed the authoritative Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport after Bahrain.

“Vettel and Red Bull dominated like old times.

“They have worked hard in recent weeks to have a great car again, so it will be difficult once again to take the throne from Sebastian.”

The energy drink-owned camp, however, is not so bullish.

“To predict our performance in Bahrain just a week after what happened in China would have been tricky,” said team boss Christian Horner, referring to Vettel’s fifth place in Shanghai.

“I am sure that with 16 races to go, we are going to see a lot more variation.”

24-year-old Vettel agrees that, despite the familiar pole-and-victory in Bahrain, 2012 is not the same as 2011, when the RB7 car utterly dominated F1.

“We’re not as confident as we used to be,” he is quoted by the Sun newspaper, “so small things can make a difference in qualifying and have a big impact on the race.

“We’ve only had four races but I’m not entirely happy with where we are.”

Vettel will be back in action next week, when F1 moves to the Mugello circuit in central Italy for a rare in-season test.

“In Italy we’ll be able to test and evaluate a lot of things and get the car in a happier place for Barcelona,” he said.

Martin Brundle has described Red Bull’s lack of pace as the biggest surprise of the 2012 season so far.

After consecutive world championships with Sebastian Vettel, the energy drink-owned team was universally tipped as the pre-season favourite for yet another F1 title.

But McLaren dominated in Australia before Ferrari and Sauber surprisingly set the pace recently in Malaysia.

Former F1 driver Brundle admitted the struggling RB8 was the surprise of the opening salvo in 2012, but he also acknowledged that the turnaround might have been predicted.

“When you look at how the regulations have changed, it’s almost like they were designed to slow the Red Bulls down,” the Sky television commentator told the website of the BBC programme Top Gear.

“Doubling the torsional stiffness of the front wings, the way Red Bull were ‘flying’ their car down the track with lots of rake, nose close to the ground, exhausts helping to sort the high rear ride height out, it’s all been taken away from them,” added Brundle.

An unnamed engineer at Red Bull has admitted the team was caught on the hop in the winter pre-season, when it became clear McLaren was better prepared for the new rules.

“McLaren came with a (exhaust) system on the edge of legality,” the engineer told Germany’s Auto Bild, “and it was declared legal by the FIA.

“So (Adrian) Newey had to adapt,” he added, referring to Red Bull’s last-minute decision to change tack at the very end of the pre-season test period.

The message coming from the Milton Keynes based team, therefore, is that Red Bull is playing catch-up.

“We need to understand the car better,” admits team advisor Dr Helmut Marko, “which is why for the next race (in China) we will have hardly any new parts.”

So until he’s back at the front, F1′s formerly-dominant Vettel – who lashed out at backmarker Narain Karthikeyan recently in Malaysia – needs to adapt.

Asked if the German was justified in calling his Indian rival an “idiot”, Brundle insisted: “No.

“That’s just an angry man who hasn’t got a front-running car at the moment. He’s just frustrated.”

Dr Helmut Marko has denied reports Sebastian Vettel was summoned to Red Bull’s headquarters this week to explain his behaviour at the recent Malaysian grand prix.

The Narain Karthikeyan-saga aside, reports suggested the German deliberately ignored his bosses’ instruction that he retire his RB8 – ostensibly due to a brake issue – so that he could fit a new gearbox without penalty in China.

The reports suggested Vettel had confessed immediately after the race that he heard the instruction but chose to ignore it.

“That is all nonsense,” Red Bull’s motor racing consultant Marko told Sport Bild.

“Sebastian did nothing – absolutely nothing – that was against our wishes.”

Marko said Vettel’s visit to Milton Keynes this week was scheduled long ago, adding that he will be working inside the driver simulator amongst other things.

He also hit back at claims the 24-year-old could be penalised by the FIA for breaching the code of conduct when he showed the ‘middle finger’ to Karthikeyan.

“The matter was resolved during the meeting with the stewards (in Malaysia). For me, the case is closed.”

Speaking to Kolner Express newspaper, however, an FIA spokesman confirmed that the code of conduct forbids superlicense holders from insulting their rivals.

But he added: “I imagine the application of this paragraph was considered by the stewards in Malaysia.”

And Sebastian Vettel’s spokeswoman said: “We know of no investigation.”

Red Bull avoided a repeat of last year’s ‘wing-gate’ by letting Mark Webber keep his latest specification front wing at Suzuka.
At Silverstone 2010, Australian Webber kicked off the controversy by angrily declaring ‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’ after winning the British grand prix.

The win came after the team took the front wing off his car because the only other version collapsed on Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 in practice.

At Suzuka, a similar situation arose when Vettel crashed at Degner on Friday morning.

But the German then tackled the rest of the weekend until qualifying with an older spare front wing replacement, and was duly outpaced in all the practice sessions by McLaren’s Jenson Button.

Suddenly, Vettel returned to the front in qualifying — with a brand new front wing.

“The team did everything to bring it back and just in time it arrived (from Milton Keynes) for qualifying,” the 24-year-old said.

Team boss Christian Horner told Reuters he never considered simply taking Webber’s front wing away again.

“Last time (at Silverstone), it failed and we had one left and it wasn’t anything to do with the driver,” he said.

“Yesterday it was purely down to him (Vettel), that’s why he looked pretty pissed off when he got out of the car because he knew he’d damaged a front wing that he knew there were only two of in Japan at that time.”

A long-awaited summer break, including mandatory factory shutdowns, lies ahead for F1 team members.
But the previously dominant Red Bull, beaten by Ferrari and McLaren at the last three grands prix, is planning a significant upgrade for the RB7 to debut at Spa-Francorchamps later this month.

“McLaren have made the biggest leap in the blown diffuser (area),” team boss Christian Horner told Der Spiegel in Hungary, adding that there is still developmental “potential” in Red Bull’s car.

The report said a new floor and diffuser, to be tested in Friday practice in Belgium, should make the Red Bull three tenths per lap faster.

Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio said it is a myth that F1′s smartest chiefs will simply lie on beaches in the next few weeks.

“Who really believes that, as McLaren and Ferrari move ahead, Adrian Newey for example says to his guys tomorrow at Milton Keynes: ‘Ok guys, see you in two weeks!’”

Actually, more than 100 points ahead in the constructors’ and 88 points clear of the first non-Red Bull in the drivers’ chase, Red Bull are not panicking.

“We are on a par with McLaren. And we have a head start,” consultant Dr Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung with eight races left to run in 2011.

He also confirmed that development of the RB7 is moving ahead.

“We will continue to make the car better,” said the Austrian.

Die Welt headlined after Sunday’s result that second place was “The perfect defeat” for German Sebastian Vettel, whose championship lead actually extended due to Jenson Button winning.

“I definitely can live with P2,” he said.

“Perhaps we don’t have the strongest car at the moment, but we can still achieve good points.”

Sebastien Buemi has hit back at claims he has become the driver under pressure at Toro Rosso.

Rumours in Valencia had indicated the Swiss’ teammate Jaime Alguersuari was most in danger of losing his race seat to Daniel Ricciardo after struggling to match Buemi’s pace so far in 2011.

But Spaniard Alguersuari, 21, drove strongly to two consecutive eighth places in Montreal and Valencia, triggering new speculation that it is Buemi whose future is now most in doubt.

Veteran Blick correspondent Roger Benoit revealed that Buemi has been spending time this week in Red Bull’s Milton Keynes simulator.

“I am working harder and at some point it will pay out,” Buemi told the Swiss newspaper.

He insists that although Alguersuari’s race results were better in Canada and Valencia, the truth is more complex.

“I was clearly faster than Alguersuari in both qualifyings,” said Buemi. “And in Valencia he had another set of tyres because he missed the first hurdle in qualifying!” he exclaimed.

“Of course I have to live with it, and what counts in the end is the speed, and I have that,” added Buemi.

Christian Horner has hinted strongly that Mark Webber will stay with Red Bull in 2012.
Dr Helmut Marko, the energy drink company’s motor racing manager, stirred the nest this week when he said that if the Australian leaves the team at the end of the season, Red Bull is likely to promote a Toro Rosso driver.

But Horner, the Milton Keynes based team’s British principal, told reporters in Canada that 34-year-old Webber wants to stay in 2012, and Red Bull Racing feels the same way about him.

“Mark has made it clear that he wants to drive next year, and conversations with Mark tend to be quite straightforward,” said Horner.

Horner revealed that the conversations will take place later this year, and will involve gauging if Webber still has the right “motivation and desire”.

“We believe he does and we’re happy to continue,” he is quoted as saying by the BBC.

While teammate Sebastian Vettel has roared to a position of dominance so far in 2011, Webber admitted this week that he is struggling with the Pirelli tyres.

“He has had these issues with the tyres that he is working hard to get on top of,” confirmed Horner, “but we are very happy with him in the team.”

Germany’s Bild said on Thursday that Red Bull looked into signing another driver for 2012, with recent rumours pointing to Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg.

“The problem is that no one wants to go up against Vettel,” said the newspaper. “He is just too good.”

Dr Helmut Marko has hit back at Michael Schumacher after the seven time world champion accused Red Bull of breaching the rules about staff numbers.

Earlier this month, the Mercedes driver referred to a clause in the Resource Restriction Agreement when he said “certain teams don’t respect that”.

“If you take the number of people we have compared with Red Bull, that is very different,” said Schumacher.

Indeed, Mercedes employs 400 people at Brackley, plus 20 for administration and marketing in Stuttgart.

Red Bull, meanwhile, has 550 staff at Milton Keynes.

The latter’s Marko told Auto Bild: “The agreement never came into force. We were reluctant because it (the staff limits) were purely for the chassis development.”

He said if F1 teams want to limit staff numbers, then the limit should also apply to the development of engines.

For instance, Mercedes employs another 400 people for the development of its F1 engines, while Red Bull’s supplier – Renault – has just 170 staff at Viry-Chattilon.

“Mr Schumacher should be asking how many people work on his Mercedes engine in Brixworth,” said Marko.

“Why should we make concessions in the development of the chassis when Mercedes has every freedom for the engine?”

Dietrich Mateschitz has denied Red Bull could be set to lose more prominent members of the championship winning team.

Ferrari announced this week that Red Bull’s chief strategist Neil Martin, a 38-year-old Briton, has switched to the famous Maranello based team for 2011.

But Mateschitz, owner of the Red Bull brand and the Milton Keynes-based team, insists that Martin’s defection is not the start of a larger exodus of staff tempted by lucrative offers.

“No!” the Austrian billionaire emphatically told Germany’s Bild daily.

“We recently extended the contracts of our 50 most important people,” revealed Mateschitz.

Bild suggested that Martin’s switch might persuade 2010 world champion Sebastian Vettel to also consider moving to another team.

Mateschitz answered: “Sebastian knows very well what team he can count on for the future.”

Red Bull its paying its entire staff – about 550 people – a healthy championship bonus.

Media reports say the bonus for the workers at the team’s Milton Keynes headquarters is 10,000 British pounds each.

“I’ve had a load of texts saying ‘Thanks for the new kitchen’,” joked team boss Christian Horner.

The bonuses, costing the team almost $9 million, will be paid out of Red Bull’s extra FOM prize-money for winning the constructors’ world championship.

“Championship bonuses are in every contract,” Horner is quoted by The Independent. “I guess we can afford this.”

The other piece of news emerging from the new F1 champions is the apparent thawing of relations between teammates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

“He (Webber) came to congratulate me (after Abu Dhabi) and showed me a lot of respect which was one of the most important things that happened,” world champion Vettel revealed.

“We talked about some things that got in our way a little bit this year.”

Webber is quoted by Swiss newspaper Blick: “The rivalry was maybe a bit too much sometimes. It is important that you can shake hands afterwards.”

Team boss turned 37 on Tuesday.

“I got a message from Bernie which said ‘You’ve already had your gift from Ferrari so you won’t need anything else from me’,” he is quoted by the Telegraph.

Gerhard Berger has dismissed as “stupid and unfair” speculation that Red Bull team boss Christian Horner could be set to lose his job.

Media reports, including in the German daily Bild, said the Briton risks being ousted because the team could lose this year’s drivers’ and constructors’ championships despite having easily the fastest car in 2010.

“The rumours are stupid and unfair,” former grand prix winner Berger, a close friend of the energy drink company’s chief Dietrich Mateschitz, is quoted by Auto Bild Motorsport.

“Red Bull are in a position to win both the constructors’ and the drivers’ world championships. An unsuccessful season looks very different to that,” the Austrian insisted.

Moreover, the report claimed Horner’s contract is tied to that of his countryman Adrian Newey, meaning that if Horner is ousted, Newey could leave the Milton Keynes based team as well.

Newey is credited as the designer of the widely-lauded RB6 car.

Berger’s dismissal of the rumour is ironic, given that it follows his suspicion that Mark Webber tried to take out his championship rivals after crashing in Korea.

Horner rejected that speculation as “ridiculous” and “absurd”.

Mark Webber has been tipped to still have his championship lead when the chequered flag waves at the end of November’s 2010 season finale.

Even though Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso are all still within a mere 20 points of the Australian title leader, Max Mosley thinks the 33-year-old is ready to be world champion.

“He is very experienced and mentally strong,” the long-time former FIA president is quoted by Germany’s Welt newspaper. “He has the makings of a champion.

“He has improved once again this year as a driver, and is in the best car. I also think the public likes his story — a man who fought for years and could now be rewarded for this admirable energy,” added Mosley.

Webber’s German teammate Vettel is often referred to as the better of the pair, but Mosley thinks it is Webber who is “better equipped for the current situation”.

23-year-old Vettel, however, is “an extremely dynamic driver with a great future”, according to Mosley.

Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard agrees with Mosley that it is the Milton Keynes based team occupying the role of favourite for the 2010 titles.

“People will say I am biased given my professional relationship with the team, but I’m sure they won’t thank me for increasing the pressure on them,” he said in his latest column for the Telegraph.

“The reality is they have had the quickest package all year and the gap, if anything, is growing,” added Coulthard.

The Scot, however, thinks the remaining seven races of the season, to all take place within the next 12 weeks, are an exciting prospect for F1 fans.

“Certainly no season that I can recall has been as open and competitive,” said Coulthard, now a F1 pundit for British television and a DTM driver.

Red Bull are set to canter to the 2010 world championships, according to Gerhard Berger.

The 10-time grand prix winner, friend and Austrian countryman of the team’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz, said the Adrian Newey-penned RB6 is in a league of its own.

“For some reason, Sundays just don’t work out right for me,” said Sebastian Vettel, after Bild am Sonntag ran an article pointing out how many more points the German youngster should have collected at grands prix so far in 2010.

Said Berger: “They can make many mistakes and still be in front.”

Indeed, Red Bull is currently leading the constructors’ championship from McLaren, while Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber is ahead in the drivers’ chase.

Berger praises the Milton Keynes based team’s technical chief Newey.

“Aerodynamics are now the lifeblood of a F1 car. This is why I see them (Red Bull) being at the front for the next few years,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

“I always advised Mateschitz to go for Newey. At first I was a bit nervous because it didn’t immediately work out; I think at the start he (Newey) was too distracted with management matters.

“Since he has concentrated on his specialty, he has shown he is in a class of one,” added Berger.

Must adapt to the Red Bull Grand Prix of Belgium, the controversial front wings? Or call back at all? In particular, the competition from McLaren calls for some stubborn race tighter controls front wing of the FIA, as the wing on RB6 is suspicious elastic and this brings an aerodynamic advantage. But whatever the FIA did before – the wing was stood all tests and is to be classed as perfectly legal.

But after the summer break to the front wing suddenly meet new requirements: To date they have been burdened with a weight of 50 kilograms and were allowed to deflect by a maximum of ten millimeters. From Spa-Francorchamps is 100 kilograms, this is a welcome elasticity of 20 millimeters. This will prevent the FIA that exploits Red Bull through the use of special materials, a gray zone of control methods.
“Based on our correspondence with the FIA, we believe that our car still meets the criteria,” says team boss Christian Horner to ‘Autosport’ sure. However, if this is not the case, blooms the Austrian racing team based in Milton Keynes Affliction. In two weeks, the three-week summer recess, there absolute from working in factories – not even e-mails may be read. Do you manage not to adapt quickly to the wing, one would have to call back to an older wing.

But Horner does the woman from working in conversation with motorsports ‘Auto Bild’ (Subscribe Now!) Positive: “The enforced break, it is difficult for other teams to catch up.” If his team have to call back but really, then it is properly under pressure, especially in store for Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber perhaps the most difficult race of the season, as Horner knows: “Spa, with its long straights a different route than Hungary. Since we can our output benefits play less. And in Monza’s worse. ”

Meanwhile, Vettel has already prepares for the race in Monza. After two weeks of vacation he is starting a special training program in Switzerland – and explained to ‘Auto Bild motorsport’ the reasons: “I want to optimally prepared to go to the overseas races. Where there is a different climate, to the time change coming up to seven hours.”

Jean Eric Vergne has confirmed he is becoming “more and more” involved in Red Bull’s formula one programme.

The 20-year-old is the energy drink outfit’s replacement for ousted junior and F1 reserve driver Brendon Hartley.

There is no testing during the F1 season, but the Frenchman – who drives in British F3 and now in Hartley’s Formula Renault 3.5 seat – is hoping to do the young driver session in Abu Dhabi in November.

And when asked if he is now working with Milton Keynes based Red Bull Racing, he answered: “More and more — in the simulator.

“The objective is preparing for grands prix: we try different setups and there is also work on the (2011 car) RB7,” said Vergne.

That would seem to indicate that he will definitely have a role with the F1 team next season.

“No project has been set for next year and it’s too early to think about it.  I don’t know what I’ll be doing in 2011,” he insisted.