- US Grand Prix - Red Bull
Vettel tips McLaren to surprise
Sebastian Vettel is expecting Mark Webber to be his closest rival at the US Grand Prix this weekend, but has tipped McLaren to spring a surprise.
Vettel was fastest in the second Friday practice session and looks locked on for another dominant weekend at the head of the field. His nearest rival was Red Bull team-mate Webber, 0.115s off in second, but he believes McLaren might get a little closer to the front of the field this weekend (although Vettel may not have been aware that Jenson Button incurred a three-place grid drop in FP1).
"Obviously Mark [will be close], but other than that it is difficult to say," he said. "I need to go through the times a little bit more this evening. Ferrari looked very quick this morning, I don't know what they did in the afternoon. McLaren could be a surprise here, they had a very strong package around this track last year as well. And then Mercedes and Lotus will do their usual."
Vettel said the tyres were holding up well this weekend despite the demands of the high-speed circuit.
"The track will only improve from now," he said. "We'll see, the car worked well on the tyres. In the morning and the afternoon the car was able to go far - or as far as we had time. We'll see what we can do on Sunday."
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