We may have enjoyed the most unpredictable start to the season in F1 history, but after five races there’s no escaping the fact that Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull sit atop both championship tables.
After various dramas in Spain Vettel still managed to finish sixth, although even team boss Christian Horner admitted that the German would probably have only been one place higher with a clean race. Nevertheless despite the uncertainty Vettel has still managed to string together the best 2012 campaign, even if he is only marginally ahead of Fernando Alonso.
“It’s no by co-incidence that we’ve had five races now and five different winners,” said Horner. “It’s also not co-incidence that we’ve managed to emerge from race five and we find ourselves leading both driver and constructors’ championships, and even on a day like today managed to increase our lead in the constructors’ championship, albeit by a point.
“I think these tyres are obviously the key to performance. I think our actual pace in the race when you look at clear lap running, we were competitive, particularly prior to the last stint with Sebastian, when we knew those tyres had to go a long way. And he’s ended up passing in the last three or four laps Hamilton, Button and Rosberg. Jenson had looked untouchable on Friday. So I should think there’s a great deal of head scratching going on up and down the paddock.”
Horner says that consistency will be the key to the championship.
“It’s a matter of whoever understands these tyres’ characteristics and manages to broaden the window of performance from track to track will ultimately prevail. I think where we’ve done a strong job is on the days where we haven’t been able to win – even today where we’ve had drive through penalties and front wing changes – we still managed to score a respectable result, a respectable recovery. I think consistency over the year is ultimately what’s going to be crucial.
“Arguably after five races we must have been the most consistent, because we find ourselves leading both championships. So I think on the days that don’t go your way you’ve still got to make sure that you optimise.
“We had good strategy, good pit work, and ultimately pretty reasonable pace when we were in clear air in the race and our degradation was respectable and we were able to pick off three cars in the closing laps. But I think on a clear run Sebastian potentially he would have had the pace to finish fifth from his grid position today. Maybe he could have given Grosjean a bit of a run for his money as well. Sixth place is damage limitation after nosebox changes and drive through penalties it’s a respectable recovery.”
Horner was not making any predictions for the next race in Monaco: “Monaco is a lottery anyway, so maybe that will be less variable this year. With the way it’s going at the moment, who knows what may spring up there. Monaco’s a different challenge in itself, and again it’s going to be fascinating to see what teams are performing well there.”
Adam Cooper F1 
I think Vettel is proving wrong those who thought that he wasn’t a true racer and that all he knows how to do is pull ahead in a superior car and hammer out fast laps. Red Bull’s consistency is important, but I would add consisency at high level of performance that has been key. It is that constant excellence in the pits, in the strategy and so on that helps a team prevail over a team such as Mclaren who are quick and fast but are making a lot of mistakes, or over a teams such as Ferrari and Lotus who are working their way up in performance.