Both Red Bull drivers drove absolutely superbly at the Spanish Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo took his first podium (he finished 2nd in Australia only for the result to be voided), while teammate Sebastian Vettel showed the world why he is a four-time World Drivers’ Champion.
Heading into the weekend, there were some notable upgrades not just to the chassis but software upgrades from Renault to help with drivability of the car. Red Bull looked a clear ‘best of the rest’ but not by much in free practice as many cars were separated by less than one second, as has been the case for much of the season. The Renault-powered cars looked far better in a straight line though as opposed to recent races, especially the Toro Rossos, who topped the speed traps. It was not all easy though for the Milton Keynes-based squad en route to P3 and P4.
No. 1 Sebastian Vettel (GER)
Q: P10 (P15 on grid due to gearbox change)
R: P4
Who says Vettel can’t race? Who says Vettel isn’t a worthy four-time Champion? Those who said such things have been silenced after this excellent drive by the German. He lost most of Friday practice, through no fault of his own. He then suffered reliability issues in qualifying, through no fault of his own. He ended up in a lowly fifteenth on the grid, through no fault of his own. Yet, through some excellent passing manoeuvres and by preserving his tyres and fuel well, he made his way up to a quite sensational fourth place, which he felt was the maximum that he could have achieved. In his last stint he excellently held off Fernando Alonso (who is not easy to hold off) and pulled off some daring lunges on his good friend Kimi Raikkonen and the other Finn of Valtteri Bottas. If it wasn’t for Bottas’ heroics in the Williams or Grosjean putting the Lotus in places it shouldn’t be, he would have certainly been my driver of the weekend. On Sunday though, he was definitely the one to watch, and he was a joy to watch too. Vettel can sometimes be quite dull to watch but when he’s sliding the car around as he did and pulling off those great moves you can’t help but be impressed from a neutral’s perspective. He also took the fastest lap of the race: the first driver of the season to do so who wasn’t in a Mercedes.
No. 3 Daniel Ricciardo (AUS)
Q: P3
R: P3
Red Bull had the car that was the best of the rest here, and Daniel delivered. Best of the rest in qualifying; best of the rest in the race. He didn’t have the best of starts, and lost places, but eventually got past the Williams of Bottas and went on and continued using an unconventional three-stop strategy, which is unlike Red Bull. He finally got a podium on his 56th Grand Prix start and has cemented himself as a driver who is more than capable of driving for a team like Red Bull Racing. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep the trophy this time. He more than deserved it. The young Aussie has surprised many by his pace early in the season. He has shown now that he is capable of driving these controlled but boring races and will certainly score more podiums this season, provided the car allows him to. He’s also showed that he can take the fight to Vettel, which Mark Webber was unable to do at all last season. This guy is really, really good.
It’s tough to tell how far Red Bull has pulled ahead of the rest at this stage. They were definitely quicker than Ferrari here, but have Lotus and Williams emerged in between them? What about Force India, who struggled? Monaco won’t give us too many answers I feel, but I expect Red Bull to do well there. Who knows, maybe they can spoil Mercedes’ party there?
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Main Photo credit: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch/Getty Images
