Vettel and Webber in 'untouchable' form

MOTOR SPORT SPANISH GRAND PRIX:LIKE THE euro, Formula One's European heartland may be of declining value to a sport furiously pursuing fatter purses in the Far East, but the return to its old-world roots still represents a kind of proving ground, the point at which, after four long-haul races, teams finally have the chance to bring major upgrades and attempt to claw back lost ground.

And nowhere is that more the case than in Spain, the traditional winter test bed of all the teams. Indeed such are the mixed technical demands of the Circuit de Catalunya with its long straight, compromising blend of slow and fast corners, and variable cross winds that a favourite adage has it that a car that performs well around here will work anywhere.

The downside, though, of the thousands of kilometres ground out here over the winter is that cars that worked well here in February will still be likely do so in May. That status quo was largely confirmed in free practice yesterday as Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber again set a blistering pace to top the timesheets, the duo continuing the form shown across the early part of grand prix weekend since the beginning of the season.

After the McLaren pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button went quickest in the morning, Webber took over the afternoon, the Australian dominating the session until, late on, team-mate Vettel fired in a phenomenal lap of 1.19.965, the only driver to go break the one minute, 20 second barrier all day.

Webber was please with the day’s work but added the caveat that he felt the best was yet to come from McLaren. “I haven’t particularly seen a huge amount of what has happened in that session, but for sure McLaren probably weren’t showing everything,” he said. “From our point of view it was a good day. We had a smooth run and it’s nice to have a good P1 and P2 with no interruptions from the weather.”

If there is more to come from McLaren then Button was doing an exceptional job of disguising the fact, reckoning the Red Bulls’ pace was “untouchable”.

“It’s horrible to say it, but I think Red Bull are untouchable this weekend,” said Button, who ended the session in ninth place, almost 1.4 seconds slower than Vettel. To be in the 19s is a very quick lap time. Red Bull’s low-fuel runs are, as usual, much quicker than their high-fuel runs but they are quick no matter what fuel they are running.”

The only driver to come close to matching Webber and Vettel yesterday was, somewhat surprisingly, Michael Schumacher. The German has been under fire all through the build-up to this race, the seven-time champion forced to defend his decision to return to the sport after a series of less than electric races in the opening phase of the season, but yesterday, armed with a new long wheelbase version of his Mercedes the German seemed more like his combative old self, punching in a lap of 1.20.757 to stave off a late challenge from Alonso.

“It’s certainly feeling a lot (better) than in China,” he said of the new car. “I’m feeling comfortable . . . We have improved, I have more ability to work the car to my needs, that’s what it is, that’s what I look for. It’s not about confidence. It’s simply the car goes where I want it to go and I don’t have to wait too long to go to this point!”

The trend towards an improving Mercedes is not the one that has defined this season so far, however. That has been the tendency for races to develop into struggles of tyre management. And the kingpin so far has been Button. Regarded as one of the grid’s smoothest and canniest racers, Barcelona rewards careful tyre use, of the sort that earned Button wins in Australia and China. The weather too could play into the title leader’s hand. Light drizzle has been forecast for tomorrow’s race, the sort of weather that brings out the intermediate tyres that Red Bull have so far struggled with.

If it stays dry it is likely to be a Red Bull race, but if the conditions change then, just as in Australia and China where Button initially looked out of the game by qualifying, this one could yet reward the kind of poker-faced downplaying he engaged in yesterday.