He didn't win but Vettel's still the main man

13 April 2012

I have been amazed how relaxed McLaren appear to be, as they have a huge amount of work to do this season.

They were a second behind in qualifying but the team proved last year that they can develop.

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton seem to be like best friends and I can tell you that that's genuine - I saw it myself at McLaren's Technology Centre the other day.

The battle between them is going to be exciting. It's logical that Lewis will have the edge to start with, as he's established within the team, but Jenson is close enough to think he can catch him.

History in F1 says that, if you have the two quickest guys, it isn't always fantastic but, if I ran an F1 team, I'd want the last two world champions. Despite being a bit off the pace in Bahrain, both Lewis and Jenson are world championship material this season. Can they win it? Of course they can - they've got the ability, they just need the hardware.

My prediction for the title before yesterday's race was Sebastian Vettel and, despite the result, the message he has put out there is catch me if you can, even if he didn't win.

The real goosebump moment of the afternoon for me was seeing Bruno Senna retire. He lifted up the visor and there was Ayrton sitting in the car.

Even with that Senna moment, it wasn't the best first race but F1 won't be allowed to get boring this season. McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh, speaking as chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association, told me that if it's not exciting enough after three or four races, they'll do something about it. It should be exciting.

* Follow Jake at twitter.com/Jakehumphreyf1

and www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey

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