MOTORSPORT: Mr Red Bull says Webber is Vettel's equal

While Mateschitz's powerful motorsport adviser and Austrian countryman Dr Helmut Marko has made no secret that he regards Vettel as the superior talent, the energy drink tycoon has vowed that the drivers will get equal equipment and opportunity in the season beginning at the Australian Grand Prix on March 25-27.

"Mark's personality is different, but he is as good as Sebastian," Mateschitz told German news agency SID. "They are both excellent warriors who can both win the war."

Mateschitz's comments bring some diplomacy to the public discussion over the now long-running frictions between Webber and Vettel, although in a practical sense Marko's views reflect the realities within the Red Bull camp.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner probably genuinely wants to give the two drivers equal machinery and opportunity, but in a crunch it is most likely that Marko's will will prevail.

Webber made a big effort to normalise relations with Vettel at the end of last season and is fed up that they remain the subject of so much discussion, this week describing the talk as "a broken record".

"People keep talking about it, but it is a broken record," Webber said. "I hope when I am 70 they are not still asking me if I love Sebastian."

Vettel is much more comfortable with things, made all the more so because he emerged on top of the world last year.

"We're starting from zero. It's the same game, business as usual," Vettel said this week. "He'll try to beat me and I'll try to beat him.

"Last year several times we had differing opinions. But we're not brothers, we don't have the same parents, so there is a strong chance we're not the same type of people. But even brothers sometimes can be very different."

Most importantly, Red Bull's new RB7 continued to be the pacesetter at F1's final pre-season testing in Spain this week, with Webber quickest the first day and Vettel the next -- although Mexican rookie Sergio Perez in a Sauber and Ferrari's Felipe Massa shaded Webber on the third day.

Although the test will continue into the weekend, Webber has now concluded his season and will head to Australia early. He drove 97 laps at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, as Red Bull rolled out its third RB7 chassis for the first time.

"We had a good day -- the car was reliable," Webber said. "I feel I'm ready for the first race now and while, of course you want a good run at your home race, I don't want to jinx it with any forecasts.

"In terms of team preparation, it's the best we've ever had going into the first part of a season in terms of reliability.

"All the departments (at Red Bull Racing) have done a sensational job in getting every aspect ready. Hopefully we're not too far from our main rivals to start with and we'll just go from there."

The team's head of race engineering, Ian Morgan, said: "Mark's now pretty comfortable with everything. He has a good feel for the car and how the tyres work, which is more important than ever this season (with Pirelli replacing Bridgestone as F1's monopoly tyre supplier)."

Vettel, who will do the last of Red Bull's testing, said: "Our car has behaved rather well in terms of reliability as much as speed.

"We know what we did in 2010, but that doesn't help us this year. We have a lot of things to resolve, new parts. That will keep us busy. We'll really see in Melbourne where we are."

The nonchalant Mateschitz appeared his usual relaxed self this week regarding speculation that Vettel will join Ferrari in the not too distant future -- speculation that Vettel has cheekily inflamed.

"Whether we 'fear' losing him (Vettel) is not the terminology we would use," Mateschitz said. "As long as Sebastian is comfortable with us and has a winning car, he will probably not really think about going elsewhere -- but if he tells us one day he wants to go to Ferrari or Mercedes, we would have to understand. We would let him go."

Autosport magazine has reported that the German giant is expected to confirm its entry in next year's WRC at the Rally of Portugal on March 24-27.

Citroen and Ford have been the dominant manufacturers in the WRC in recent years, while BMW's MINI -- prepared by Prodrive - will participate in six of the 13 rounds this year ahead of a full campaign next year.

Prodrive chief David Richards has claimed that MINI can win the championship within three years.

Toyota officials also have been spotted regularly at WRC rounds over the past year and are said to be looking for an affordable motor sports program after withdrawing from F1, like BMW (which also will return to the German touring car championship).

It is not clear yet whether VW would continue its Dakar marathon rally program as well as contest the WRC, although its motorsport director Kris Nissen has previously stated that would not be out of the question in view of the investment made in the Race Touareg 3.

VW has won Dakar -- these days in South America - three years in a row.

Citroen, which has won six of the past eight WRC manufacturer titles and taken Frenchman Sebastien Loeb to the last seven drivers' titles, has said it would welcome VW's participation.

"It's good for the sport and for the championship that they are coming and that we have MINI as well," Citroen motorsport chief Olivier Quesnel said.

Quesnel said he had no fears of VW's mooted massive budget.

"They did the same in Dakar and Mitsubishi won (for many years) with no money."

Brabham will give the new HPD ARX-01e its debut in next week's Sebring 12-Hour in Florida.

The car is a highly developed version of the LMP2 car that Duncan Dayton's Connecticut-based Highcroft used in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) last year, brought up to LMP1 specification.

Brabham has played a key role in developing the car, testing a virtual version of it on Wirth Research's simulator in Britain.

Wirth was responsible for the ARX-02 LMP1 car that raced in 2009, as well as Virgin Racing's recent Formula One designs.

Nick Wirth also designed the Simtek F1 cars that Brabham raced in the mid-1990s.

"From what I have seen so far the HPD ARX-01e has enormous potential," Brabham said. "I have driven the car on the simulator and been very impressed, but until we get it out there on the track we really won't know for sure."

Brabham has been part of all Highcroft's 11 race wins in the past four years and took back-to-back American titles with the team the past two years.

Marino Franchitti, younger brother of Indycar star Dario Franchitti, will be one of Brabham's teammates this year, with another driver to be named -- perhaps tonight.

"We're hoping the new HPD car is able to be up battling amongst the factory Audis and Peugeots from the word go (at Sebring)," Marino Franchitti said. "Our program has come together a little late and we're going to be very light on miles. Reliability will be our main goal."

The car is scheduled to take to the track for the first time at Sebring on Monday.

"Obviously we would have preferred to have had more testing miles under our belt prior to the Sebring race," Brabham said. "But if there is one thing I know about the guys at Highcroft Racing it is that they respond to pressure in the best possible way and do an outstanding job.

"Audi and Peugeot have had their cars out there earlier than anybody so they will be better prepared than anyone."

Audi will field two diesel cars and Peugeot three.

"Our goal is to fast-track the development of the 01e and Sebring is the perfect environment for that," Brabham said. "Sebring is a great place to test a car in what really is a violent environment -- it is certainly the toughest race in the world on equipment."

More than 50 cars are entered for the Sebring 12-Hour, which starts the ALMS and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) seasons.

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