Red Bull vs Brawn: The balance of power

The best way to bounce back from a mistake is to follow up with a faultless drive, and that's exactly what Sebastian Vettel did at Silverstone.

After hitting the wall in Monaco and going off the road on the first lap in Turkey, he didn't put a foot wrong for the duration of the British GP weekend. He turned in a performance that was so dominant he made the race still fascinating to watch, despite any lack of excitement over the eventual outcome.

It was just the result Vettel and his team needed. Dominant in the rain in China, they might easily have won a couple of other races this year had luck gone their way, or strategy played out differently. And, while Jenson Button and Brawn might have built up a lead that will ultimately prove unassailable, RBR is clearly going to give the championship leaders a hard time over the second half of the season. The gap in the constructors' points table is far from impossible to close.

We knew going to Silverstone that RBR would be strong and could well have the edge on Brawn, but that was exacerbated by circumstances. In the cool conditions, Button in particular had trouble getting the tyres to work properly as his anxious descriptions over the team radio on Friday made clear. This time there was no gradual progression to perfection and it was left to the RBR cars to fight over pole. In the end, it didn't go quite right for Mark Webber, and Vettel - with the heaviest car in the top six - got it just right.

Sebastian Vettel on his qualifying lap

"I was surprised when I crossed the line and saw the lap time," he admitted. "The lap was very close to perfect. I was able to use the tyres when I needed to, therefore I am very pleased with the result. I think we should be quite happy, looking at the guys who are surrounding us."

He was well aware of how delicate the tyre situation was: "You can play around with pressures and the way you bring the tyres in, the pace you have on the out lap and so on. Some of the guys are weaving more, some are weaving less, so it's quite tricky. The first lap is extremely important, you start a lap here and then you go down through Turns 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, very high-speed corners.

"Apart from having the pressures ready, the tyre ready, the temperatures, you need to have the confidence to do it, otherwise you lift your foot too much and you lose time. I think that's the big secret. It was quite tricky. With the hard tyres you're struggling a little bit more to get the temperatures in, whereas with the softs it seems to be a little bit better - but I think both tyres are pretty similar, there's not much between them, so we will see tomorrow. It will be a challenge which tyre to use at which stage of the race; but we have a night to think about that."

For once, Webber had a lighter car, but when it mattered in Q3 the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen appeared on the horizon.

"I had a big distraction from Kimi because he was totally asleep on the back straight," Mark rued. "He couldn't have done a better job to distract me into Stowe. He sat on the racing line and just basically didn't care what was happening, so that was very frustrating for me because it broke the rhythm. These laps need to be absolutely perfect, so it wasn't the tidiest and cleanest of laps to finish the most important part of qualifying, so that's some frustration inside, but hey, I'm not 10th, I'm third."

So it wasn't quite perfect for RBR, but at least Button was well out of contention in sixth - and there was always a chance that Webber could jump Rubens Barrichello and get second.

The impressive thing was the way the new aero mods - including a very different nose - had done the job they were asked to do.

"We always highlighted this track as a circuit that would suit the characteristics of our car," said Christian Horner. "We brought a couple of modifications here that seem to be working well. It's been a good weekend so far. What's been surprising is that we expected to be strong in the first two sectors, the high speed stuff, and actually sector three has been very strong.

"Mark has this black thundercloud that seems to follow him round and strike at the most inopportune moments, he was fantastic in Q1, he was fantastic in Q2, and his first run in Q3 was superb. On his last run, Kimi Raikkonen was not particularly co-operative and cost him time and concentration more than anything."

Sebastian Vettel leads the opening lap at Silverstone © LAT

In the end, it didn't work out for Webber at the start and he wasn't able to get past Rubens Barrichello on that crucial first lap. Meanwhile, this time Vettel got it just right and there was no repeat of his Turkish nightmare.

"The start was perfect and the first stint was the most crucial one," he noted. "The more of a gap I could build up, the more important it would be for the rest of the race and probably I would have an easier life, which was the case, so I was very pleased. The car was fantastic to drive, I was always in control."

After just a few laps, he had no one in his mirrors, which made it difficult to judge his own performance.

"It's true, it's not easy, you're looking at the board, talking to the team, [asking] how is the pace? Because you can't see anyone, you can't see if you're making progress or not. You have to trust some numbers, it's quite strange. But in the end it's more or less like qualifying, you try to nail every single lap, every single corner. I have to say it was a pleasure, because this circuit is just fantastic."

But even he didn't quite achieve perfection: "In the first stint I was sometimes slightly too late on the brakes and missing the apex by a sniff, but it wasn't costing me an awful lot, possibly half a tenth or a tenth some laps. In the end I think I was gaining more by pushing so hard. As an outcome I think the first stint was very good."

That's a characteristic understatement. When Barrichello pitted on lap 18 he was more than 18s behind the leader, a clear demonstration of Vettel's metronomic progress. Only a mistake could cost him a victory.

"In the second stint I had quite a lot of traffic due to the lapped cars, so it wasn't always easy, I had to be patient.

"I was counting the laps down. I saw the gap and I could control it from there on. Ten laps from the end I had a quieter moment because I had a big rain drop all of a sudden in Stowe and I thought if it starts to rain now it will be quite exciting! But fortunately it didn't. Obviously when you are in the lead, having quite a margin to the guys behind, the last thing you want is something special to happen, whereas when you are maybe sitting behind and you can't really get the gap close that's what you're waiting for.

"I think it was difficult all the race, 60 laps here, the circuit is very challenging. Towards the end I was able to back off a little bit and slow down a little bit the pace."

Mark Webber follows Rubens Barrichello for the duration of the first stint © LAT

He also let slip that those mistakes had been on his mind: "In the end to have this kind of result is I think the perfect answer. Compliments to the team, they have been working very hard here in England at the factory, but also at the circuit."

Meanwhile, Webber had to settle for a distant second. He did get closer to Vettel over those last two stints, but Vettel was only going as fast as he needed to. Those laps stuck behind Barrichello were very costly.

"We were going to try and do it off the line, it didn't work so we took it to the first stint," said Mark. "I saved fuel sitting behind him and just jumped him at the first stop. After that it was pretty straightforward with the fight with Rubens. Sebastian's gap was just too big, the damage in the first stint was massive that Rubens cost me.

"Rubens drove as hard as he could and that wasn't enough obviously for us to stay in touch with Sebastian. Qualy also would have been nice to be maybe in the position that we probably deserved, but in the end I think I got the most I could out of today. Second is the first loser of course, but also it's still not a bad result.

"We'd been close all weekend and I knew it needed something to happen to Sebastian, whether it be a mistake or a problem with his car for me to beat him, there was no way that I was going to close that sort of gap with only two stints, so I think that was the most I could get after a yesterday's qualifying."

That was the big frustration for Webber. Had he started second, we might have seen a different race. He would still have pitted before Vettel and the team is unlikely to have adjusted strategies to allow him to pit later second time around, so jumping the German was unlikely. But he would at least have kept him in sight. Raikkonen probably won't get a Christmas card from Webber this year.

"Stefano Domenicali rang me up last night - which was very professional of Ferrari - and apologised. He said they asked Kimi and told him I was coming, but Kimi has a different view as always. So it's not resolved at all.

"He said it was fine what he did, he got out of the way and did enough, and blah, blah, blah. I said you're talking out of your arse!

"Hundred per cent I would have finished a lot closer to Sebastian, there's no question about that. Whether it was enough to really take the fight to him, no one really knows. It would have been a better afternoon for the fans, it would have been better for me personally. It didn't happen, but we still got second in the end.

"It would have been the ultimate to be one step up, but also it was probably one of the best podiums we've had this year. Barcelona was good, but Turkey when you've got six people in front of you in the grandstand was not great. Here it was a good atmosphere.

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in parc ferme © LAT

"It did clearly have an effect on how far I finished behind Sebastian, whether that was enough to really take it too him, no one really knows. But he deserves a victory, he did a good job and also clearly I deserved second place, so it was a good day for the team."

It certainly was, and to do it so close to the base in Milton Keynes certainly helped to make it special. China was good, but wet races are always a bit oddball. Such a dominating result in the dry really was a landmark.

"I think it means such a lot to the team to do it in front of all the guys who've put so much hard work in," said Horner. "It's just a brilliant result. I'm so happy for all the members of the team. They've worked tirelessly for the last few months. It's a tremendous result.

"It was stunning, obviously Mark was caught behind Barrichello who just didn't have the pace of us today, and once he was in free air, he pulled away very comfortably as well."

The big question now is what happens at the races coming up? The balance of power between Brawn and Red Bull has varied with each weekend, and the weather has played a key part. But there's a feeling that Red Bull really has made a step forward.

"I think the car worked tremendously well and Silverstone suited the characteristics of the car brilliantly," said Horner. "I think we just got the most out of the package this weekend. We knew we should be competitive; we brought some new pieces as well that have worked well this weekend.

"We did to them what they did to us in Turkey and probably with a bit of interest. Hopefully we can take the fight to them in the second half of the championship. We'll just treat every race as they come, try and do our best, try and compete to win every race, and we'll let the championship take care of itself."

Webber admits it's too early to tell whether the blue cars really have got ahead.

"It is too soon, we need to get a few more races under our belt," he insisted. "These conditions looked like they suited us quite well, the track layout also suits out car I think, with the complex of corners we have in the first sector, but also the way that we're working the tyres in these cooler temperatures seemed to have given us a bit of an edge over the opposition. We've got some hot races coming up with Valencia and Budapest, and we need to improve that as well.

"Jenson was not in the wall, he got a few points and he'll be back. This race is history already, and we need to now focus on Nurburgring. I think it's still pretty much open, I mean anything can still happen."

Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel after the British Grand Prix © LAT

Vettel is also playing it cool: "I will answer this question in a couple of grands prix time. You never know what happens at the next one, that's sport, that's racing. For sure we are on the right way, we are here to fight and here to win, and today it was a good day for us. Every single venue counts and in the end we sum up all the points we have collected, and see if it is enough.

"I would say we have made a step forward, I would say the pace of the car is already very good. I believe we had a competitive car before as well. Obviously here it worked perfectly and we can be very pleased with the results and we hope to continue.

"We have a very strong package and it's up to us to use it. If it's good enough to be as strong as here, it's difficult to say, it's a different circuit. But we're on the right way, so we'll push, definitely."