Unbeatable

The extent of the advantage that the Red Bulls have over the rest of the field appears to have, depressingly, gotten bigger this weekend.

At a circuit which places such a high priority on aerodynamic performance this is perhaps not surprising, but it won't help in making what is traditionally a very dull race probably even more dull. Of course there will still be some action down the field, but if one of the Red Bulls doesn't win tomorrow it will be down to car failure, surely.

Lewis Hamilton gamely stuck to his task but even he could only just get within a second of the Red Bulls. Fernando Alonso came perilously close to unseating Hamilton for third place, which is impressive given Ferrari had to revert back to their old rear wing. Felipe Massa, a full second down on his team mate, should be looking over his shoulder, such insipid performances are not befitting a Ferrari driver.

Michael Schumacher pulled a fast one over everyone, electing to save all his sets of soft tyres for the race. Given that there is a frankly ridiculous gap between the primes and the options, this could prove a very canny move, though not one likely to get him near the podium.

There is a real danger that tomorrow could be a procession. I think Vettel will just edge it over his team mate over a full race distance, though Webber clearly enjoys Spain. We can only hope that the Mclarens and Alonso have better race pace, for sure they should be decidedly closer than the qualifying gap, but I doubt it will be enough to challenge across 66 laps.

Race prediction: 1. Vettel 2. Webber 3. Alonso