Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel has encountered not one but many surprises during recent winter testing ahead of the rapidly approaching 2010 Formula One championship season as he watches his rivals pound the pavement, trying to work out who will be at the top of the leaderboard when it really matters, next month’s season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

“There is not just one surprise; I think the biggest surprise is when you look at everyone. If you look at the cars they are not just different colours but also different shapes, with a different philosophy behind their design,” he told the sports official website.

Just like his colleagues, Sebastian can’t pinpoint just who will be right up there, however he too thinks it will be very similar to the players of 2009, Ferrari, Red Bull McLaren and now Mercedes (Brawn).

“They are all more or less close together, within a couple of tenths, so ourselves, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes I think are pretty close. But the Toro Rosso looks quite strong as well. If you read into the lap times a bit, it is fairly close. There are a lot of things still to happen before Bahrain, and a lot of new parts coming for us, and of course for the other teams as well. But so far it looks very close.”