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Upgrades unlikely to change pecking order - Vettel

Sebastian Vettel: "Ideally everybody makes a step forward and then we are in the same boat" © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel does not think the upgrades on various cars this weekend will have a major effect on the pecking order at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The start of the European season traditionally sees teams bring major changes to their cars in the pursuit of extra performance, but Vettel reckons the gains at the front will cancel each other out.

"I don't think it will be a big surprise," he said. "Ideally everybody makes a step forward and then we are in the same boat."

Despite two victories, a third place finish and fourth place finish in the opening four races, Vettel says Red Bull has room for improvement.

"You're not just looking at the raw result but also how you achieved the result and I think there we have some room for improvement," he said. "That's what we are targeting but I wouldn't say we are unhappy with what we have had so far."

Pirelli has brought a new hard compound to the Spanish Grand Prix, which has been designed to work in lower temperature ranges and give teams more strategy options. But despite the changes, Vettel thinks managing degradation will still be the key to victory in Barcelona.

"We know a little bit what to expect given the information we received from Pirelli, but I don't expect a miracle. I think we will still have to work a lot around the tyre and make the tyre last. Whether it helps us a lot and whether this is the compound that we carry on using - talking about the hard tyre - we will know a little bit more after Sunday."

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