Sebastian Vettel believes Mercedes could pose a ‘dangerous’ threat in 2013, following their impressive runs at the final test in Barcelona.
The current champion, who is widely tipped as favourite heading into the first race of the season, earmarked both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton as potential surprises.
“I finally took the chance to watch some of the other teams for a bit,” he said.
“Nico had a great final day of testing in his Mercedes, which shows how dangerous he and Lewis will be in the future. But there are a lot of others to keep in mind as well.”
He admitted he was pleased with Red Bull’s own progress so far.
“All in all I am fairly happy with how everything went in these last weeks,” he added. “The team did a great job with the car and both Mark [Webber] and I felt comfortable right away.
“We haven’t come across any big problems and the smaller ones have been dealt with straight away. The RB9 has been so reliable that it’s been a pleasure to drive.
“We learned a lot over the winter tests and we’ll be bringing that new knowledge with us to Australia.”
