Vettel: old car could be an advantage

The Italian squad do not plan to introduce their new car until the fourth or fifth round of the 2008 championship, and Vettel reckons having the old STR02 could prove to be a benefit in the first few Grands Prix.

"At the moment it (the car) looks and feels really good," Vettel said in an interview with the official Formula One website. "We will get the new car after the first three or four races so we will start the season with an evolution of the 2007 car, the STR2B.

"In fact I see it as a benefit to start the season with a car I know and that has overcome reliability issues in the last quarter of the '07 season.

"Let's wait and see if we are not doing better with proven material than many others in their brand new machines having to overcome teething problems," added Vettel, whose team have showed promising form in winter testing so far.

Vettel said there is no fixed date for the launch of the new car yet.

"Nothing has been fixed yet," he added. "At the moment we have concerns other than thinking about the launch of the new car. We have to push the STR2B forward.

"We also have to see that the development of the STR3 goes in the right direction so we have a competitive car right away, as by that time all the other teams will have solved many of their teething problems."