The fifth race of the season, the Spanish GP, looked, for the first eighteen laps, to have a different script from the previous four races. 

 © 2011 Ferrari spa / FOTO ERCOLE COLOMBO 

Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari, at his home grand prix in front of 80,000 adoring fans stormed into the lead off the starting grid. The double world champion in his prancing horse was fantastic. Could it be that Ferrari’s upgrades to the car would propel them into championship contention, would the Italian automotive powerhouse as well as the men from McLaren put Red Bull under pressure?

 © 2011 Ferrari spa / FOTO ERCOLE COLOMBO

Sadly, for all the cheering fans, and many watching around the world, Sebastian Vettel had not read the script. For the fourth time in five races he was to produce a champions performance; winning the race ahead of a charging Lewis Hamilton who had pushed his McLaren to the limits throughout the race to cross the line in a creditable second. Jenson Button may well be quietly satisfied to finish in third;- pleased that he stayed in contention with his teammate and in so doing beat Red Bull’s number two driver Mark Webber into fourth.   Alonso’s fifth place will have the senior management at Ferrari screaming in loud frustration at their lack of pace. Alonso played his part brilliantly, it is just that the car lacks any magic and the team must quickly find the magician’s wand if this season is not to end in dismal failure for Ferrari and Alonso.

It is notoriously difficult to overtake at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona and it is not surprising the pole sitter has won the race for the past eleven years, indeed the first car on the grid has only failed to top the podium four times in 17 races. Saturday’s qualifying was thus of even greater significance and once again the session was dominated by Red Bull who qualified almost a second clear of their closest rival Hamilton. Unusually it was the Australian Mark Webber that bested his teammate Sebastian Vettel to claim pole. The record books suggested all Webber needed to do was get off the line well and then he could dominate the race from the front. Not unusually, Webber, who when opportunity presents itself will try any means to scupper his chances, (snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is increasingly his trademark), had a poor start and struggled again to keep pace with his younger teammate, finishing the race in fourth underlines again the increasing mediocre performance in the fastest car on the grid.

The start was certainly the best of the season, and will be added to the list of greatest F1 video clips. Alonso, starting in fourth place on the dirty side of the track was completely in the zone. As the lights went out, Fernando’s acceleration and car control was spellbinding, he passed on the inside Hamilton, Vettel and Webber to take the lead at the first corner. The crowd rose as one in appreciation of the master-class from their favourite Spanish son. (When Ferrari gives him a suitable car for his talents, few would bet against him). Webber was also overtaken by Vettel slipping to third by the first corner and in essence ending his chances of podium glory.

Watch Alonso's incredible start

Alonso drove with an intensity and skill that few can match, but his car’s pace was exposed after the second pit stops, Vettel was able to make up ground on his out lap to jump Alonso, and the Spaniard’s race was slowly going backwards as then Hamilton, Button and Webber passed the lacklustre Ferrari.

With Alonso out of contention, the real race developed between Vettel and the McLaren of Hamilton. Lewis closed the gap to within 1.2 seconds, but at each pit stop, he was to fall back again. For the last ten laps of the race, Lewis was all over the back of Vettel’s car, and often it seemed that he would be able to pass before the chequered flag, however, the young German was up to the task of holding off the charging Britan and crossed the line just 0.6 seconds ahead of Hamilton.  The two were almost in a different race, with Jenson Button who finished in third crossing the line more than 30 seconds after his teammate.

Webber was fortunate to finish in fourth; he had spent much of the race behind Alonso but managed to pass after Alonso pitted on lap 39. It is ironic that the Australian has been a vocal critic of the new DRS overtaking system making overtaking too easy. He will be eating his words after his inability to pass a markedly slower car. (Perhaps Webber will now accept that to overtake still takes great skill and that the new regulations merely allow those with skill to demonstrate such more often than in prior seasons).

 © 2011 Mercedes GP

Michael Schumacher  was able to beat his team mate Rosberg, with the Mercedes claiming sixth and seventh place respectively. It was a pleasure to see Michael finish ahead of Rosberg. The car is still woefully slow for a big team and the gap does not seem to be closing, nevertheless Schumacher looked more mentally together than in past weeks and he made the best of yet another poor weekend for Mercedes. Renault's Nick Heidfeld was eighth, with the Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi took the final two points positions.

The season is far from over, and it is possible that Vettel will have a bad days racing before the end of the season. However Red Bull have certainly raised the bar, and Vettel has taken the season by storm, his teammate is not able to compete and the boys at McLaren are valiantly trying but unless the engineers at McLaren and Ferrari can find a lot more speed they will be competing for second place.

The next race is the iconic Monaco GP, the race that all great drivers want to win, few would bet against Vettel adding the trophy to his bulging display cabinet.
  

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