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Spain was something of a reality check for Red Bull Racing. High on the victory in China and second place finish in Bahrain, Sebastian Vettel put in a great lap on Saturday to qualify on the front row. Mark Webber made it to a decent Row 3. But slow reflexes at the start and no KERS on the car saw Vettel drop to 4th place at the first corner, and he spent most of the race following Felipe Massa. The Ferrari was clearly slower than the Red Bull, but given the nature of the track at Catalunya, there was little that Vettel could do with a faster car.

Mark Webber had an uneventful first stint. But they fuelled him heavy at his first stop and Webber was able to make up ground on team-mate Vettel in the second round of pit-stops. This, combined with Massa’s early pit-stops meant that he comfortably finished on the podium and even looked to threaten Barichello’s second place towards the end of the race.  

RBR walked away with 11 solid championship points from Spain. But, it showed once again the might of the Brawns, and Red Bull have to do much better than this to beat them in the dry. Vettel might be supremely fast, but he is inexperienced (something that surprisingly hasn’t shown very often in his performances). However, given his recent performances, he is being openly pursued by BMW and McLaren for 2011 and beyond. It is vital for RBR to retain him for the long term.  

The team have openly admitted that they have no plans to use the KERS system (to be procured from engine suppliers – Renault) in the near future. They are awaiting the double-decker diffuser currently under development. Given that they have the best ‘non-double diffuser’ car on the grid, and the gap to Brawn is not much, we can safely assume that the diffuser will get them at least on par with Brawn, if not ahead of them.  

Red Bull have also joined the bandwagon of teams threatening to pull out of F1 over the proposed budget caps from 2010. Although they are a recent presence in the sport, and are unlikely to affect fan viewership of F1 (unlike a team like Ferrari), they bring in a lot of money to the sport, as well as sponsorship. And the recession-hit world of Formula 1 most certainly needs them on board for 2010.  

Looking ahead to the Monaco GP, it’s hard to predict where they would stand. Given the lack of fast sweeping corners, the high downforce double diffusers on the Brawn will not make as much of a difference as the other tracks. But the streets of Monte Carlo are unforgiving, and Vettel’s inexperience might just cost them dear

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