Red Bull drivers charging

Mark Webber's 24-second winning margin on Sunday told only half the story of Red Bull Racing's performance at the Spanish Grand Prix. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel struggled with the balance of his car, suffered a small fault with his front aerofoil, lost time and a place to Lewis Hamilton at the scheduled pit stop, had a trip through the gravel, needed a second visit to the pits and - having crawled the final laps three seconds off the pace - still finished on the podium. That's how much the Red Bull-Renault dominated.

It was no surprise to see Webber set the fastest time in qualifying. Either the Australian (now twice) or Vettel have started all five races of the season so far from pole position. Taking the chequered flag has been more difficult: Vettel lost the first two races in Bahrain and Australia to mechanical issues, which Webber's performances were below par; RBR scored a one-two in Malaysia - Vettel ahead - but failed again to convert in Shanghai.

Had all the races been dry and the RBR-Renaults reliable, we would likely now be comparing this season with those in the 1990s when first the Williams-Renaults and then the McLaren-Mercedes were almost unbeatable. In other words, the times when RBR's chief designer, Adrian Newey, worked at Williams (1991-1997) and McLaren (1998-2005). We should not be surprised.