Red Bull race into the distance

Well, that was a white-wash, wasn’t it? I’ve been predicting in this column for what feels like months that there would soon be a set of circumstances in which Red Bull simply drove away from the rest of the field…and Sunday’s race at Silverstone was the living proof.

What was almost unbelievable was the way that Sebastian Vettel simply disappeared from the chasing pack’s view at the rate of a second per lap in the race’s early stages. And, even more ridiculously, I’m still not convinced that he was driving at 100% during that period. Adrian Newey’s Red Bull car looks simply awesome through fast corners and at cool temperatures…and, luckily for Vettel and Webber, Silverstone enjoyed both of those factors on Sunday.

Equally, I don’t think that anyone should now presume that Red Bull will now favor Vettel during their mid-season pursuit of Button and Brawn, from here on in. There are still only just a few Championship points between Red Bull’s two drivers, and if they continue to decimate the opposition at this rate, there’s no reason why either of their drivers can’t be this year’s World Champion.

However, it is worth remembering, for instance, that Toyota were absolutely nowhere in Monaco, yet pretty competitive at Silverstone. And also that lots of Red Bull’s new kit was first attached to their car in Turkey, two weeks ago, where they couldn’t keep pace with the Brawns… Add to the mix that Jenson’s amazing run of reliability and consistency is almost bound to splutter to a halt at least once during the remaining races ahead, and we’ve still got a roller-coaster of an F1 season to look forward to.

The image which many TV viewers will remember from this weekend won’t have anything to do with the battle at the front, though; it will be the amazing, race-long dice between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. There’s still a real degree of ‘needle’ between those two, whether it’s squabbling over 1st place or 15th. And, from my perspective, it was fascinating to see that the Renault was faster in a straight line than the McLaren-Mercedes because the Renault was clearly running less down-force.

The excellent quality of Silverstone’s TV direction – in not concentrating unduly on what was going on up front, but on battles further down the field – would have undoubtedly helped to steer the world’s television viewers’ attentions away from the politics of the Paddock, back-stage. Brutally, this all boils down to money, as always. There are a lot of big spenders in Formula 1…and they don’t like being told how to spend their money by the sport’s governing body.

From what I saw and heard in the Silverstone Paddock this weekend, though, this is no mere sabre-rattling. FOTA seem to me to be a very united and serious organization. My gut feeling is that there might ultimately be some form of compromise between the top teams and the FIA, but, equally, I do feel that a ‘breakaway’ series is eminently possible.

And I must admit to having mixed feelings about that, because it’s been my feeling for many years now that there have been too many good F1 drivers around (including yours truly!) and not enough cars or teams. Whether there are two series or one in 2010, there will certainly be many more cars, and I’ll be doing my absolute utmost to be climbing into one next season.

Last week’s race at Le Mans was, in fact – and this was very much by accident, rather than design – my first competitive event in over a year. I smile when people ask me whether or not it was a culture shock to be back in the cut and thrust of a busy first corner, but the question slightly irritates me because that’s been my life most weekends since the age of eight…and you don’t forget how to do it in a hurry!

It was great to see my and Aston-Martin’s name up on the leader-board in third place at one point – we split the three-car Peugeot team, which really shouldn’t have been possible – until gearbox gremlins dropped us down to an eventual 13th. I’d love to return to Le Mans and finally win it in another year or two, but I’ve got some unfinished business in Formula 1, first.