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[size=14pt]Vettel favourite for another F1 title[/size]
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Sebastian Vettel's testing pace in Spain has made him the favourite to defend his Formula 1 World Championship this year.
In 11 days of pre-season running that has taken place this month, Vettel has been the driver to beat, but the threat of Fernando Alonso has been ever-present while the likes of McLaren and Mercedes look likely to struggle.
Using testing pace as a barometer of a car's ultimate speed is always a risky business as different teams use different tactics during their days of pre-season running. You only have to look at headline-grabbing laps from the likes of Prost in 2000 and Sauber last year to see how inaccurate a picture they can paint.
However, by examining the three tests that have taken place so far, a more reflective order has started to emerge. By treating each day of testing as a grand prix, and awarding championship points to the top 10 finishers, the Castrol Rankings has come up with a set of results that should more accurately reflect each driver and team's pace.
Unsurprisingly, it is world champion Vettel who has come out on top with just four hastily-scheduled days of running at Barcelona on March 8-11 to come. The Castrol Rankings' number one driver of the past 48 weeks has driven on six of the 11 days so far and been quickest on three of them - two at the most recent test at Barcelona. That has given the Red Bull driver 105 points, four more than the man who pushed him hardest for the championship last year, Fernando Alonso.
Alonso's Ferrari F150th Italia has shown more consistent pace than the Red Bull in terms of the overall timesheets - recording top three times on all but one of the days the Spaniard has been at the wheel for - and has been the closest thing to the RB7 on the long runs that will prove so crucial this year.
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As if to back up the summation that the early part of this year will be a Red Bull v Ferrari battle, the next two drivers in the list are their team-mates Felipe Massa and Mark Webber, their scores ensuring that Ferrari is currently best of the manufacturers. Just.
Massa's 79 points and Webber's 65 suggest that they will both be seen as backups to their world champion team-mates. However, with drivers running different programmes even within the same team, these scores cannot be taken for granted.
Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, currently lies fifth as McLaren has flattered to deceive with its MP4-26, but that is significantly better than his team-mate Jenson Button, who does not even make the top 10.
Two surprising names crop up in sixth and seventh places in the shape of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, who have driven on five and six of the test days so far. Kobayashi's second place on the final day at Jerez and Alguersuari's similar performance on day two at Barcelona have given each cause for optimism ahead of the new season.
Completing the top 10 so far are Williams' Rubens Barrichello, Mercedes' seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and Renault's new signing Nick Heidfeld.
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The positions of Barrichello and Schumacher are almost entirely down to a single fastest time each, rather than as a result of consistently good pace, while Heidfeld was only named as a Renault driver after Robert Kubica suffered the injuries that may keep him out for the season on a rally in Italy.
Interestingly, Renault is actually the third best constructor of the closed season, its score of 120 being some way off the 180 and 170 of Ferrari and Red Bull, but being the equal of McLaren. Renault edges ahead of the Working squad because of two fastest times compared to McLaren's none. If Heidfeld were to inherit Kubica's score in addition to his own, he would be third among the drivers.
The best of 2010's new teams appears to be Virgin, its 27 points comparing favorably with the 23 of Lotus and Hispania's two. Virgin's star performer so far has been Timo Glock, sixth quickest on day three at Valencia.
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Ogier squanders big chance in Mexico
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Sebastien Ogier's agonising late mistake while leading Rally Mexico was not only a major blow to his World Rally Championship aspirations, but also hit his standing in the Castrol EDGE Rankings.
Citroen has given Ogier the green light to take the title fight to team-mate and seven-time champion Sebastien Loeb this year, and the younger Frenchman took a narrow lead into the closing stages in Mexico, only to smash his suspension in a ditch at the start of the final loop.
Had he hung on and taken his first win of 2011, Ogier stood to surge into the top 15 in the Castrol EDGE Rankings, but instead he slipped four places to 23rd.
Conversely, Loeb's victory meant he hung on to his third place in the Castrol EDGE Rankings - which he stood to lose to Fernando Alonso had he failed to continue his Mexico winning streak - and brought him up to a close second in the Castrol EDGE Race for 2011.
That contest is still led by rally runner-up Mikko Hirvonen, who progressed three places in the overall Castrol EDGE Rankings to take 37th as his form continued to pick up after a tough 2010.
One of the biggest Castrol EDGE Rankings gains in the rally world last weekend came from Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Juho Hanninen - whose second place in the Mexico S2000 class and eighth overall, achieved despite a late roll, saw him jump nine places to 42nd. Also heading forwards was Mads Ostberg. Following up his Sweden podium with a consistent fifth in Mexico meant a 62-place surge up to 176th for the Norwegian.
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NASCAR was in action at Las Vegas, and Carl Edwards' victory brought him to the verge of a place in the Castrol EDGE Rankings top 10, as he edged up from 14th to 11th. Edwards vaulted Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch to become NASCAR's second-highest Castrol EDGE Rankings contender after Jimmie Johnson (9).
Also making progress were Marcos Ambrose, up to 79th with his breakthrough fourth at Las Vegas, while a solid run to 20th by Daytona hero Trevor Bayne took him up 37 places to 293rd in the Castrol EDGE Rankings.
Elsewhere in America, Mark Blundell's decision to carry on in Grand-Am is paying dividends in the Castrol EDGE Rankings. The ex-Formula 1 racer's sixth place at Homestead brings him up 199 places to 952nd as he settles back into top-level motor racing after a long absence.
