Trackside at Barcelona: Red Bull vs McLaren

Today was the first glimpse of the on-track battle of 2012...sort of. At times like this, with the opening race in Melbourne still almost a month away, you have to take what you are given and Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton both treated us to race simulation runs this afternoon that made for fascinating viewing trackside.

Barcelona has a well-deserved reputation as a great test track, but that also means that it's an excellent place to get a picture of how the 2012 crop is performing using the naked eye rather than the stopwatch. So myself and AUTOSPORT columnist Dieter Rencken completed a full lap of viewing, taking the opportunity to watch the cars in every type of corner, be it the heavy brake into the medium-speed Turn 1, the long, demanding right-hander at Turn 3, the super-fast, uphill Campsa or the painfully slow chicane near the end of the lap.

But back to the race. This jaunt around the track coincided with the Red Bull versus McLaren battle. Given that both were running what appeared to be comparable (if not identical) fuel loads at similar times, it was a rare opportunity to compare the two cars. Right now, Red Bull and McLaren appear to be in the best shape overall, although to that must be added the usual caveat that this is based on limited information and there is still plenty of time to go until the first race.

Hamilton was mighty through Turn 1 © sutton-images.com

First stop was Turn 1 and Hamilton, frankly, looked mighty through here. Late on the brakes, he banged down the gears with absolute confidence and was able to get on the power very fractionally earlier than Vettel...and stay there. It wasn't that the Red Bull looked bad by any means, just that Hamilton could be fractionally more committed after turn-in.

Both cars handed the transition from Turn 2 into Turn 3 very well (which is more than can be said for Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, of which more later), but Hamilton opted for a slightly wider line on entry and a more aggressive turn-in, to which the car responded excellently. The result of that was come the middle of the corner, he ended up using a little more road on the outside, while Vettel held his Red Bull on a tighter line. The upshot of that is that Hamilton certainly has a car that he can attack with, much to his visual delight.

Campsa was more revealing. It is preceded by a medium-speed left-hander, in which the McLaren looked a little more of a handful than the Red Bull. While Vettel was able to feed in the power decisively and the rear of his RB8 bit beautifully, the rear end of the McLaren was a little bit less stable and a couple of times led to minor wobbles on the kerbs from Hamilton. In Campsa itself, both cars looked excellent, certainly a far cry from the days when Red Bull was able to take the corner a gear higher than anyone else! It's hard to imagine that the McLaren is giving away any large amount of downforce in the quick stuff.

Then came the final sector. By the time we reached this part of the track and took up position next to the chicane, Hamilton and Vettel were very close together on track. Overall, Vettel looked a little quicker, although it appears that he had a little less fuel than the McLaren looking at the way his run was structured.

Once again, the medium speed seemed to be his biggest strength, as looking across to Turn 11 as the Red Bull chased the McLaren, he was able to attack the corner with more throttle than Hamilton, who had several slight moments of wheelspin.

Come the chicane, both cars looked pretty good, although just as in Jerez it still appears that the Red Bull is less unsettled by the kerbs. Interestingly, when following through the final right-hander, on a normal lap, an acceleration zone, Vettel showed no signs of the slight understeer that drivers usually encounter when tucked up under someone's rear wing. In fact, on one occasion it was Hamilton who had the wobble.

After a few laps of them running line astern, Hamilton backed off and sent Vettel on his way, which came as no surprise. The race was over for now...

Vettel finished ahead, but both cars seem to be evenly matched © sutton-images.com

But what was the bottom line? Well, it's pretty difficult to choose between Red Bull and McLaren right now. While it's hardly front page news to say that the best two teams of 2011 look like they could start this year in the same position, that's what the on-track evidence suggested.

No wonder Vettel has already cast an envious eye at Hamilton's race pace and the McLaren man was so happy today. Right now, if you had to put money down for Melbourne, it would be on one of those two teams. As for which one, it's looking close enough to make a race of it.

As for the rest, the Ferrari still doesn't look right. As mentioned earlier, in the transition from the exit of Turn 2 into Turn 3, Alonso was having to work hard on the throttle to get the car to do roughly what he wanted and there were plenty of wobbles that suggest that the car is not giving him enough consistent grip. As he admitted himself, there are other faster cars out there, and again the evidence suggests that Ferrari needs to make a big step very quickly if it's to be in the mix for victory at Melbourne.

As for the two teams that should also be towards the front in Melbourne, we still need a little more time. With Lotus absent and the Mercedes not running at the same time the Vettel and Hamilton were doing much of their long running, there remain a few wild cards in the pack.

But right now, it seems that McLaren and Red Bull are winning the phony war. Whether that will still be the case in a month's time, who knows...