Sebastian Vettel hopes he can prove Bernie Ecclestone wrong once again by dominating this year's Formula 1 World Championship.
The 24-year-old German secured back-to-back titles last season on the back of a new record for pole positions in a year (15), the most laps led, and crucially victory in 11 of the 19 grands prix.
With Vettel having secured the title with races to spare, the end of the season proved to be a tepid affair, prompting Ecclestone to remark that he would "much prefer a fight for the world title right to the end of the season."
Vettel responded: "Obviously I hope he's wrong. It's difficult to say (what will happen). Every season we start from zero again.
"Unlike other sports, in tennis for instance, you're the number one in the world and there is a certain gap between you and the number two.
"You have this cushion and it doesn't matter if it's one year or another year, you still have it.
"Whereas for us it all starts from zero again, zero points, where everyone has the same chance and we are all building our new cars.
"Until we put them on track to race each other we don't really know. So we'll see, but I'm as confident as I can be at this point.
"Hopefully we will have a good couple of days testing with the car to prepare well for the season."