If Red Bull really are going to dominate the rest of the championship at least we can take heart from the fact their two drivers have been pretty evenly-matched over the first six races.
| Sebastian Vettel | Mark Webber | |
| Qualifying position | 3 | 1 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q3) | 1’14.227 (+0.401) | 1’13.826 |
| Race position | 2 | 1 |
| Average race lap | 1’24.792 (+0.006) | 1’24.787 |
| Laps | 78/78 | 78/78 |
| Pit stops | 1 | 1 |
Sebastian Vettel
For the second race running Vettel was soundly beaten by his team mate. Webber’s margin of superiority in qualifying was four tenths of a second.
In the race Vettel got the jump on Robert Kubica at the start to take second place, but after each of the safety car periods he could only watch as Webber drew away from him.
That was especially so in the first stint on super-soft tyres (see chart above).
At the first round of stops Webber was so far ahead the team were happy to bring Vettel in first to protect his position from Kubica without running the risk of inadvertently helping him pass Webber as well.
Compare Sebastian Vettel’s form against his team mate in 2010
Mark Webber
Dazzled in qualifying with two great, barrier-brushing laps to grab pole position.
In the race he was both quick and calm – always able to leave the chasing pack behind him after a restart.
Avoided getting caught up in the Trulli-Chandhok mess and took a thoroughly deserved second win of 2010. Can he carry on like this?
Mike
17th May 2010, 16:52
The only bad thing about Webber doing well, is that when he was being beaten by Vettel all the Australian commentators would talk about was Webber, now, I do believe my television might explode Oo.
macahan
17th May 2010, 17:03
wow. 6 thousands of a second difference between the two of them. Hard to believe consider how Webber just disappeared in front of Vettel.
Excellent race by Webber to funny with all the talks in the last two months about him being replaced in Red Bull. I would say his seat for 11 is very secure and he would be stupid to go anywhere else. Will be very interesting to see whom will be on top in Turkey. Can Webber continue his strong drive or will Vettel manage to do one of his rabbit out of the hat Q3 laps there.
Further will then manage 7 for 7 on pole position?
Fer no.65
17th May 2010, 17:43
of course, it’s just 6 thousands of a second. They finished with less than a sec between both because of the Safety Car.
Ace
18th May 2010, 7:34
Indeed, I’m sure if the safety car laps were removed from the equation it would be a very different story.
Calum
17th May 2010, 18:44
Em, is the differances between the two RBRs not even closer, I make it 5 thousands!!
macahan
17th May 2010, 20:33
haha.. yeah your right it’s actually 5 according to the lap times but I bet there is a rounding issue in there. Higher then 7915 and less then .7875 so the actually difference is 0.006 (rounded to the thousands).
F1silverarrows
17th May 2010, 22:09
I believe vettel done very well on a track which he dislikes very much when compared to last seasons result.
I expect vettel to come back hard in Turkey with his second place result.
John M
17th May 2010, 22:23
The reaction of Vettel after the last couple races has been interesting. He was all smiles earlier in the year, but appears to be having a really hard time with Webber beating him. It will be interesting to see how this plays out the rest of the season.
Electrolite
18th May 2010, 23:54
I don’t think I’ve seen Vettel smile unless he isn’t winning…
Electrolite
18th May 2010, 23:55
sorry, i meant is*
Bookgrub
18th May 2010, 0:09
One of the most telling points of difference in the chart above is how much more quickly Webber got back on pace than Vettel.
After every stop he instantly started pulling a gap on Vettel – most striking is the way he accelerated after the pitstop. At Monaco, in identical cars, that has to be a confidence thing. Not a good sign for Vettel if he can’t match Mark’s brass ones this early in the season.
Set his fastest time on lap 63, too. Obviously could have gone much faster at the end had he felt like it. Cracking effort all round.