Wednesday 5 May 2010

Barcelona form card

Formula 1 returns to action in Spain this weekend following three weeks of frantic development work by the teams - as they bid to catch Jenson Button in the points, and stop Red Bull pressing home its speed advantage on track.

As the teams head for Barcelona, itv.com/f1 runs down all 24 drivers' form heading to round five.


1. Jenson Button (GB) - McLaren

Championship position: 1st, 60 points

Who saw that coming? Four races in and Button has two wins to his name and the championship lead, while his team-mate Hamilton has yet to taste victory in 2010. While the latter is often the quicker of the McLaren duo, it's Button's cool head, great judgement and silky touch that are helping him turn speed into results - something others are struggling to do at the moment. And he's still only in the settling in stage at McLaren...

Last five race results: 1st / 8th / 1st / 7th / 3rd
(most recent first)


2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) - McLaren

Championship position: 4th, 49 points

Hamilton has done some brilliant overtaking in the first four races of 2010 - but he's had to, because things keep going horribly wrong for him, sometimes through no fault of his own, sometimes through misjudgements, mistakes or Saturday afternoon under-performance. His driving has been entertaining, but you don't get any bonus points for swashbuckling passes. He needs to pull it all together and win from the front, as he definitely has the speed to do.

Last five race results: 2nd / 6th / 6th / 3rd / R


3. Michael Schumacher (D) - Mercedes

Championship position: 10th, 10 points

This is going horribly wrong at the moment. Schumacher is giving it his all and certainly wasn't giving up without a fight in China, but he simply wasn't fast enough to hold off the queues of rivals chasing him down, and was a long, long way behind team-mate Rosberg. Mercedes has a heavily revised car for Spain, which should in theory be more suited to Schumacher's style. Will that get him on the pace and silence the whispers about how long he can continue to disappoint before returning to retirement?

Last five race results: 10th / R / 10th / 6th / -


4. Nico Rosberg (D) - Mercedes

Championship position: 2nd, 50 points

It's all looking good for Rosberg at the moment. His consistency has brought him to a close second in the championship after four rounds, he's now a podium regular, and he has blitzed legendary team-mate Schumacher by an increasingly large amount. And with few believing the Mercedes is a match for Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, he is under less pressure to fight for wins. It must still have hurt to slip behind the McLarens after leading in China, though.

Last five race results: 3rd / 3rd / 5th / 5th / 9th


5. Sebastian Vettel (D) - Red Bull

Championship position: 5th, 45 points

Vettel's win in Malaysia was supposed to open the floodgates and mark the moment when he and Red Bull put their early fragility behind them and got on with turning their dominant pace into dominant results. But China was a similar story to the opening rounds: peerless in qualifying, but messy in the race. Last year rain was a good thing for Red Bull, but not in 2010. That said, straightforward weekend in Spain could see him untouchable.

Last five race results: 6th / 1st / R / 4th / 1st


6. Mark Webber (AUS) - Red Bull

Championship position: 8th, 27 points

While Vettel tried to put a positive face on the points salvaged in China, Webber was seething that his team had been 'blown away'. Yet again, the Aussie is getting the worst of the bad luck... and is generally a tiny fraction off Vettel's pace too. He is confident that it will just take one win to turn his season around and is probably right, but that win can't wait too long.

Last five race results: 8th / 2nd / 9th / 8th / 2nd

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