Mark Webber sure technical rule tweaks won't wrong-foot Red Bull in 2012

Red Bull was felt to have been particularly adept at making the most of the exhaust-blown diffuser technology that has been outlawed for the new season, but after testing the RB8 for the first time at Jerez today, Webber said he was confident his team had found adequate solutions.

Asked if he felt there was less scope for Red Bull to gain an edge now, Webber replied: "Not really, I think we're such a strong team. We have a lot of bloody good people here, and we are constantly adapting, since '09 when we first started to come competitive."

He added: "We completely respect the rivals. There are no guarantees that we're going to go to Melbourne and clean up at all. There are going to be some quick cars out there, as there were today. But I have no doubt about the team here."

Webber admitted that the new rules had had a distinct effect on the feel of the car.

"The car's different on the brakes. The way that we use the engine as well - the engines were part of the aerodynamics, effectively," he said."

The Australian was fourth quickest today, and said his first impressions of the RB8 had been very encouraging.

"I feel good in the car. It's doing pretty much everything that we expected, which is always nice. There's no nasty surprises," Webber said.

"It's incredibly early in the concept of the car, obviously. A lot of questions still, a lot of things to go through, a lot of directions, a lot of ideas to work out what we need to do to put together a full championship, not just here at Jerez, but doing well for the whole season."