Vettel - 2012 will be closer

Vettel won last year's world title, his second in succession, by a staggering 122 points, leading the standings after the first race in Australia and not being displaced from top spot thereafter.

Red Bull also wrapped up their second straight constructors' crown with plenty of room to spare as their 2011 car proved to be the class of the field.

But on the day the Milton Keynes-based team launched their 2012 challenger, the RB8, Vettel played down predictions that another all-conquering season was on the cards.

But with the banning of technical innovations such as double and blown diffusers, the latter of which was exploited so well by Red Bull last year, Vettel thinks the grid will bunch up as there is now so little room for manoeuvre in car design.

Expectations

"It would be wrong to go into this season and expect 2011 to happen again," the 24-year-old German said during the launch of the new car.

"I think it will be very tight this year, anything else would be a surprise to be honest. Looking at the cars, there is not much room left to play with for the designers to find something extra.

"In the last two years we had two big things taken away - the double diffusers plus, this year, the system around the blown exhaust.

"Therefore I think it is difficult to really create a difference, but we will see.

"Obviously we hope that our car is better than all the others, but it will be difficult because I think the cars will be fairly similar and the gaps will be even closer than they have been."