I felt it would be Webber's day though, so well done to him. I hope it's his day tomorrow too: while I've nothing against Vettel, I don't want to see yet another win for him.
Well you say that, but let's be honest - this track favours Red Bull massively - and therefore, if both McLaren and Red Bull showed up here with their Turkey-spec cars, the gap between them in qualifying would probably be over a second. McLaren have come with updates and they have worked. I feel that overall, McLaren have closed the gap (which hopefully we will see in places like Canada), but since aero tracks suit Red Bull, their advantage will be a lot bigger here.
I have got a good feeling about Button for the race, he said he was happy with the car's balance, he is on the clean side of the grid, he should be able to jump Alonso at the start, if Vettel's KERS is not working perhaps him as well, and Hamilton has also got a slightly damaged front left which could give Button and opportunity.
and there we have it, on a circuit RBR are usually dominant on there is just over half a second between Vettel and Hamilton, with Button beating pole sitter Webber by nearly 3. I'd say they've caught up quite a bit.
Well, I think McLaren have certainly advanced. However, I think Button was fortunate that Webber was held up by Alonso and that they were both on hard tyres which enabled Jenson to pass them.
Back to the original question, yes McLaren have caught up, and unfortunately Ferrari haven't, but I think Red Bull especially with Vettel at the wheel are still going to take some beating, and Mclaren aren't quite there yet. Also, Qualifying might be slightly more important in Monaco (Eddie Jordan will be shocked that someone disagrees with him on the subject of qualifying no doubt), as regardless of the undercut, it's fairly likely you'll be out in traffic, and therefore aren't going to be able to go the 1.5-2 seconds a lap faster necessary to guarentee the overtake. Also, Pirelli are taking different tyre compounds to Monaco, the Soft and Super Soft I believe, and the difference was nowhere near as big between those 2
McLaren were arguably faster than Red Bull on race pace: - In the early stages, Hamilton was hanging onto the back of Webber just as Vettel was to Alonso - When Hamilton got into clear air, he reduced the gap to Vettel from 5 seconds to less than 1 - If Hamilton had overtaken Vettel, that would have been game over in the battle for 1st place Hamilton made the point after the race that Red Bull still have significantly more downforce, but for McLaren to almost win on a track made for Red Bull is a very positive step forward. It means that on less aero dependent tracks, that extra magic from Hamilton and Button could cause Vettel real problems. I look straight at Canada with much interest (also because Ferrari are due a very big update there). Hamilton is the best chance we have of ending Vettel's domination. If Alonso or Webber can't do it, I certainly hope Hamilton beats Vettel to the title of Double World Champion.
In pre-season testing the difference between the two was about a second, but the super-softs only lasted a couple of laps and Pirelli said they were planning on making the compound harder. So no doubt the goalposts have shifted slightly since then. On McLaren: I think if Vettel had had clear air at the start of the race he would've been well clear of Lewis by the time they got the primes on. The McLaren definitely looks better on the hard compound though, even though they were at one of Red Bull's strongest tracks, so it's a shame from their point of view it's a shame they're not using it in the next three races. Montreal and Monaco are pretty unique so Valencia will be the first real indication of where they all are. The cars will have developed a lot by then and I expect McLaren to be as strong as Red Bull.
Come on Jose admit it! You just don't want Vettel to take Alonso's youngest back to back WDC record do you? lol
