Assessment: Red Bull is among the top three teams!

With Brawn and Toyota, the Austrian team Red Bull Racing is part of the top 3 best teams at the moment. The proof is in the championship standings, where they are consistently in second place ahead of Toyota. But this position is only possible thanks to the performances of its drivers.

After the double victory a week ago in China, today it is Sebastian Vettel who honors his team by bringing in eight points on his own. Mark Webber should have been alongside him if his starting position on the grid had been better. Indeed, starting from 18th, he achieved the best advancement of the GP (along with Bourdais) to finish in 11th position. These very good performances suggest that Red Bull will be at the forefront when Formula 1 returns to Europe.

Sebastian Vettel – 2nd:

« Very good. A good result and good points, even if it was a tough race. The start went well, but suddenly Lewis Hamilton was next to me, he must have pressed his KERS button to get that advantage. At the first corner, we were three abreast, me in the middle, Jenson Button on the outside. I had to give way, losing two positions. »

« Unfortunately, I got stuck behind Lewis [Hamilton], which accelerated tire degradation by starting to slide. Braking was difficult here, so you had to manage your rear tires to stay stable. In the second stint, I was right behind Jarno Trulli. I could have gone faster. »

« In the third stint, it was the opposite situation and I had to defend against Jarno, who was then on Super-Soft tires. He was very close to me, but I didn’t make any mistakes and we crossed the finish line in that order. »

Mark Webber – 11th:

« My start was good but I quickly got stuck behind Piquet. It was very difficult to overtake him since he had the KERS. He was too fast on the straight, in my first stint. We had a two-stop strategy, but the grip was very low on the hardest tires even though it was the same for everyone. »

« Starting from this position, I did my best. It was a good day for Sebastian [Vettel], which shows the performance level of the car. My mechanics worked very hard to make the RB5 very reliable. »

Christian Horner – Team principal:

« Vettel lost a lot of time in the first stint behind Lewis [Hamilton] and in the second behind Jarno Trulli. When there was no one in front of him, he was very fast and managed to finish in second position. So, eight points is an excellent result and we are still second in the Constructors’ Championship. We had a car that was quick enough to win again today. »