Red Bull Racing and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel have both had an impressive a start to a season as anybody in recent years, the German having lost only fourteen points from the quota available, with five victories and two second places as of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Not to mention that the RB7 has been on pole position for every race, Red Bull’s other driver Mark Webber scoring a solitary pole in Spain to complement Vettel’s six.
Oh, and the fastest laps, courtesy of Webber’s five despite being continually beaten to the chequered flag by his team-mate.
Pretty damning statistics if you ask me!
To slightly borrow a quote from BBC F1 commentator David Coulthard, the only way these facts could be any scarier is if somebody said it to you in the dark!
We haven’t been privy to this kind of utter dominance since the Michael Schumacher-Ferrari golden era of 2000-2004, not even Jenson Button’s run with Brawn GP in early 2009 has anything on this.
Then why would I write a piece predicting troubled times ahead for Red Bull you say?
On paper, they ought to have nothing to worry about.
Yet slowly, it is becoming apparent that inroads are being made by their opponents, in the form of McLaren.
The Woking outfit can count themselves extremely unlucky to have yielded the solitary victory from the last three events, Lewis Hamilton having come within a whisker of glory at Spain, and Jenson Button being robbed of certain success at Monaco by the safety car.
The general consensus is that while Red Bull are near on unbeatable for Saturday qualifying, come Sunday, McLaren has the race-pace to match, if not beat them.
It could be a matter of only a race or two before McLaren finds the pace on Saturday to complement their obvious speed for the main event, and then who knows?
Jenson Button could consider himself a big chance of adding to his 2009 success. The same applies for Lewis Hamilton, who last triumphed in 2008, if only he would stop driving like a brazen escaped convict, colliding with anything and everything in his path.
Which leads me to my next point, and ironically, something which will take effect in the next two races…
A lot has been made of Red Bull’s aerodynamic advantages, courtesy of technical guru Adrian Newey, and now, the team is set to lose one of these advantages which many believe holds the key to their dominance.
FIA, the motorsport governing body, has ratified the proposed ban on blown-diffusers, as of the British Grand Prix, which follows next weekend’s race at Valencia.
It is believed that Red Bull are the pioneers of this method, employing the device to full potential under breaking and off-throttle, and while several teams use this, it is Red Bull who will be hardest hit.
Last season, it was flexible rear wings which raised eyebrows among opponents, the season before that, it was the double diffusers which featured on the cars of eventual champions, Brawn GP.
There is every chance that Red Bull and Adrian Newey will work around this and continue to dominate, but the feeling is that once the ban is in effect, they will be brought back into the pack somewhat.
What this means is that suddenly McLaren will be able to actively compete for pole position, greatly increasing their chances of success on Sundays. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa might be able to mix it with Vettel and Webber, but only if they find the developments which have evaded them so far.
However, what this ban also means is that second tier teams who rely heavily on the device – Renault and Mercedes – will suffer.
Therefore, McLaren can arguably consider themselves to be the greatest winner out of this, as Ferrari don’t realistically look like competing with them, they won’t have to worry about Renault or Mercedes, and all they will have to contend with is the equally or perhaps even less equipped Red Bulls.
Red Bull should enjoy their success while they can, because in Formula One, the smallest change can lead to the greatest difference, and suddenly, we may be hearing the British anthem played more often than not, rather than the German anthem.
Or maybe if they just put the ban on Vettel’s car, wouldn’t mind hearing the Australian anthem for Mark Webber blaring out of the speakers at some point this season!
Ultimately though, until this happens, the fact is that Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel lead the championship, and convincingly, so we would be naive to dismiss them at the drop of a hat.
We await the European GP next weekend, where the odds are that Sebastian Vettel will make it six wins from eight starts, at least putting as big a gap on the competition as possible before he is brought back from his seemingly endless holiday on cloud nine.
Mark Young
Roar Guru
Excellent article mate! Well written I wholeheartedly agree as well. Macca has actually been the fastest car on the track at the end of the last four races and is somewhat unlucky to have only picked up the two wins. I tend to think that Vettel will coast to the title based on the fact that the others such as Hammy, Button and Alonso will take points off each other while Vettel really maximised his position. What a wonderful season of racing this is turning out to be.
DV8
Guest
i think McLaren also relay on this force diffuser also, so i think the difference will still be the same, the engineers will come up with another brilliant idea, which in the future will get banned, its just the way off things.but things will be interesting come 2013 when new motors, rules and reg come in. and i think the biggest difference between Vettel and the rest of the field is confidence,
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Sorry, cant see it happening. firstly, vettel and Webber have already amassed a large lead. and they are both reliable and so inroads will be very slow. Secondly, I dont buy that Maclaren are going to have a faster car. There is a lot more to it than just having a fast car. Track position, safety cars, tyre choices, pit crews etc all have the potential to change race outcomes for all teams. While i wrote last week about how well Button drove to catch Vettel, he needed multiple safety cars to make up the ground. otherwise, vettel would have almost lapped him. yes, it is going to be closer but Vettel is arguably the best driver in the best car........still,..................
paigsss
Roar Rookie
but surely in terms of the Championship no one is going to catch Vettel. Even if the Brits fire up, they are going to take points off each other as one os not dominant over the other- unlike Vettel over Webber. no?