Red Bull shine in Spain again

Mark Webber topped the timesheet at Jerez yesterday, to compete another strong day for the Red Bull team; Seb Vettel - who will team up with Webber in 2009 - set the pace for Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s junior team, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Steady Webbo was pleased with his team’s efforts in Spain:

“The car ran pretty reliably, and we’ve clocked up some good mileage. Today we were mostly getting ready for Budapest, as well as looking at developments for a little later in the season. Yesterday we were focusing more on ‘09, and it was quite a challenging day. Today was better in terms of what we learned mechanically and aerodynamically. It’s been a hot week for the guys working here, and they’ve done a good job.”

Full timesheet after the jump…

Grid Crasher rates the team that gives you wings

RED BULL
Drivers Mark Webber (Australia) & David Coulthard (GB)
Championship points 24

Read our verdict on Red Bull below:

Grid Crasher previews this weekend’s race at Silverstone

1. It will rain on Sunday afternoon That’s what the expert weather folks say, and who are we to doubt them. A wet GP is an unpredictable GP - but that’s not going to stop us from making another nine rash predictions…

Who got lost in France?

Five winners:

1. Felipe Massa (1st) Won a race that he didn’t really deserve to win, though that’s no criticism of Ferrari’s No.2, who could yet win the world title - especially if Kimi continues to have zero luck.

2. Nelson Piquet Jnr (7th) Wouhou, at last! Junior brings his Renault home in a points-paying position. Now we could see a totally different Piquet. Or not.

DC driving on borrowed time

German magazine Auto Motor und Sport claims that only “a miracle” will now prevent Red Bull from starting the 2009 season with its preferred lineup of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

That leaves David Coulthard out in the cold, and looking very short on options if he wants to stay in F1 for another year. Asked about the mounting speculation, DC replied, mysteriously: “I have plans for the future.”

One third of the season is done & dusted. We rate the drivers so far, based on the first six GPs of 2008

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (35 points, 2nd in championship)
Despite an up-and-down season so far, the reigning champ is still very much the favourite to win the title this year. He had a horrible race in Monaco, but solid wins in Malaysia and Spain are a more reliable indicator of his pace this season. Four podiums in six races is championship-winning form. Over the long haul, we can’t see that Felipe Massa will have enough to get the better of the laidback Finn; only Lewis Hamilton can challenge him. 7/10

Felipe Massa, Ferrari (34pts, 3rd)
So far, the little Brazilian has put up a better fight against his team-mate than many observers expected - especially after he failed to finish either of the first two grands prix. When he’s fast, he’s very very fast, arguably the quickest natural driver in the championship; and now he seems to be getting more consistent, which is the key to winning his first title. If he can outscore Raikkonen in the second third of the season (a huge if), then Ferrari will have a dilemma as to which driver to support. 7/10

The best the web has to offer on Monaco 08

A whole bunch of cool Monaco links for you to enjoy…

• Mark Webber’s Monaco photo diary, in which he reveals that he told a make-up artist to “poke it” (that’s Aussie for “get lost”) before Petra Ecclestone’s fashion show. [BBC Sport]

• Kimi Raikkonen speaks about his disastrous race. Read our verdict here. [The Prancing Horse]

• James Allen’s review of Monaco ‘08, which he ranks as one of his top three GPs that he’s commentated on. [ITV Sport]

Jenson Button “wouldn’t normally wear this”

Last week we told you about Petra Ecclestone’s F1 fashion show, which took place a couple of days before Sunday’s Monaco GP. Today we show you the best pics from the charity event, plus a video shot backstage.

The first model we present is Jenson Button, who is seen here wearing an outfit that we describe as “Metrosexual Bavarian”. Jens said of the outfit: “I like it… I really like it…” but perhaps the look in his eyes told a different story. You decide.

DC has sly dig at Red Bull team-mate

In his latest column for ITV, Red Bull’s David Coulthard squeezed in a couple of interesting comments about his team-mate Mark Webber. The Scot, who has yet to score a point and had been outshone by Webber all season, said:

“My team-mate Mark Webber told the media over the Istanbul weekend that he has opened talks with Red Bull to extend his contract.

“If I try to rationalise why Mark would say that, I can only presume it was either to stimulate talks with the team or to stimulate interest in the rest of the paddock, reminding people that he’s on the market.”

Grid Crasher dishes out the green and red lights after an eventful race in Barcelona

Five winners:

1. Kimi Raikkonen He hardly put a wheel wrong all weekend and kept team-mate Felipe Massa at bay with ease. Seems very happy with the set-up of his Ferrari now, which is ominous news for the rest of the field. Who can stop him retaining his world title now?

2. Lewis Hamilton As we predicted, the British driver bounced back after a nightmare race in Bahrain – his gutsy move on Robert Kubica essentially ensured a place on the podium. However, the McLaren is still a good half second off the pace of Ferrari, which means he could struggle to climb higher than the third step this season.