Vettel under pressure? Don't make him laugh

Even the fans hate taking a breather. I seem to have spent most of my winter chatting to people on Twitter as the anticipation about what may come to pass between now and November starts to build. And while the Twitterati have been left frustrated by the additional wait after Bahrain was shelved, the man most eager to get going once again is the champion himself.

Twelve months ago here in Australia, Jenson Button won his first race as champion, a victory that he took because of the added confidence of having been crowned the best in the world. You see, until drivers achieve their ultimate aim, they are often guilty of trying too hard, over thinking situations and letting the desperation to take the title do more harm than good.

Once they've scaled the mountain, an air of serenity often reveals itself during the nip and tuck of a grand prix weekend. I chatted to the man of the moment about how he goes about defending his title and I was knocked sideways by the youngest-ever world champion looking more confident, positive and pragmatic than I'd ever seen him.

He talked about wanting to beat Michael Schumacher's record of seven titles, apologised for the odd mistake he made in 2010, but most impressively of all, was able to explain what it's like being in the glare of the world's media at just 23 years of age. Imagine your day at work today. From the moment you walked through the door until 5pm, how would you feel having a million pairs of eyes casting judgment over everything you did?

This is where Vettel is so impressive. He manages to deal with the pressure by laughing at the absurdity of it all.

The question is, how do his rivals deal with 'Sebastian the champion', who is a more experienced, fitter and improved version?

As ever in Formula One, we talk about the drivers while they talk about their cars. The vehicles that have been carefully built, tested and then honed over the winter at the cost of several million pounds are, as ever, key to drivers' aspirations.

Put Vettel or Button in a back-marking Hispania Racing car and no amount of natural skill would even get them halfway up the grid.

So, who has unlocked the secrets of speed over the winter and who will be left chasing exhaust fumes in Melbourne on Sunday morning?

The ominous sign for the rest of the pack is that Red Bull look to have picked up where they left off with the car to beat this season. Adrian Newey is the creative genius behind the design and if I were Mark Webber or Vettel, Newey leaving would be my regular recurring nightmare.

Can Ferrari take the fight to the fizzy drinks company? They threw away the chance of a title with a poor decision at the final race of 2010 in Brazil and the pressure from the loyal Tifosi is such that second place won't be tolerated again.

They will look toward Fernando Alonso to lead them to glory but what about Felipe Massa? My advice: write him off at your peril.

And what of two most recent British world champions? McLaren and their sponsors have dedicated substantial time and resources to prove how well Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button get on.

We're delighted they can have a laugh together
but in the serious world of F1 being mates comes second to winning races.

The focus of the team from Woking needs to be delivering a car that one of them can take the title in, regardless of how that might effect the cosy atmosphere in the camp.

To all that, we can throw into the mix Michael Schumacher looking for win No92 while his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg, hopes to beat him for a second successive season, a new British driver in the form of the not very British sounding Paul di Resta and a Hispania car yet to turn a wheel in anger despite 15 days of testing having come and gone.

So, with all that on the table, what will we be talking about? Amazingly, the tyres! It might not sound like the world's most riveting topic, however, Pirelli have returned to Formula One as the sole supplier, after a 20-year break and brought with them the perfect tyres for unpredictable racing. Hard to heat and difficult to make last, that best of all will lead to multiple pitstops and mixed-up grids in the early races.

So here we go again, nine months of who-knows-what . . . all in glorious High Definition. Enjoy!

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