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I'm outright favourite for the title - Vettel

ESPNF1 Staff
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Sebastian Vettel didn't enjoy a smooth end to pre-season testing, completing only 23 laps in the updated RB8 © Sutton Images
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Sebastian Vettel believes he is the outright favourite for the 2012 championship as a result of his title victory last year.

Vettel was dominant in 2011, winning 11 of the 19 races and taking pole position on 15 occasions. It secured back-to-back world championships and with Red Bull again displaying a quick car in pre-season testing, Vettel told The Guardian that being the reigning champion makes him a prime contender to defend his title.

"Generally, the one who wins it the year before is usually among the favourites the next season," Vettel said.

When asked if he considers himself outright favourite he simply answered: "Yes."

Vettel also warned that while the dominance of 2011 would be hard to repeat, Red Bull had plenty of areas it could improve this year.

"Last year was nearly faultless and if I see the steps the team has taken from 2009 to 2010 and then from 2010 to 2011 it's incredible. I think last year we didn't have a car as strong as 2010 - but we were stronger as a team.

"There were a couple of occasions where we made mistakes. Fridays have been poor. I made mistakes. I crashed the car. We got the concentration back when it mattered but on Fridays you only have a couple of hours to prepare the car - so we can improve on that. We had a meeting in January and went over the things that we need to do better and you would be surprised. It was a long list. There were lots of points to improve."

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