Both Red Bull and Toyota will be plenty competitive in the race at Melbourne this weekend, if the most recent views of their respective drivers are anything to go by. But then they would say that, wouldn't they. The crazy scamps.
As the early-season platitudes flow out of the drivers in the Melbourne sunshine, both Mark Webber and Timo Glock have reaffirmed their belief that the 2009 season will be a strong one for their respective teams. Webber believes that Red Bull's testing form has given the team cause for plenty of optimism heading to his home grand prix. Which specific results he meant was not originally obvious, but his message of hope should buoy a few people not a million miles away from this site.
"We are going in with a little bit of optimism actually," the Aussie chirped at the assembled media in Melbourne, "We are looking forward to seeing how all the times roll out after qualifying.
"With Barcelona and Jerez, we tested at only two tracks in Europe for the whole of winter testing and now we have come to a different venue, so we need to get our head around Albert Park very quickly, which is the same every year. But we are optimistic we will be somewhere up there."
Webber conceded that Brawn GP will start the weekend as favourites, but added to Fernando Alonso's earlier claims that the F1 field is remarkably open and competitive this year.
"The Brawn cars look quite interesting....it looks like they have produced a very, very fast car," he admitted, before adding "I think you have got Toyota up there and you can never underestimate Ferrari. There are so many teams doing the same lap times with the exception of Brawn, so we will just have to see how it goes come this weekend. The only probable surprise is McLaren because of its lack of performance, but you can never underestimate McLaren."
Meanwhile, Timo Glock backed up Webber's views on Toyota's pace, believing that the Toyota team is finally ready, after eight years of under-performance, by finally winning a race in 2009. He did, though, stop short of bigging-up to possibility of that win coming in Australia.
"From the first test with the new car everybody has been really strong, everybody is up to speed at the moment and everybody really wants that first win for Toyota," the German smiled, "It would be great to be on the podium or even win the first race – it would be a dream...I want to come out of this weekend with the same feeling that we had over the tests – that we are in a strong position and that we have a good potential to develop the car over the year."
Glock also points to Brawn GP as being the favourites in Melbourne, claiming that "Brawn GP went out in Barcelona...and they were quick over a long run as well from what we could see on the lap times. It looks like they are a little bit ahead of the pack slightly."
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