This weekend, we reach the quarter-way mark of the season. The Spanish Grand Prix is the fifth of the currently scheduled 19 races this season. This weekend is likely to play out as a battle between the Red Bulls as Vettel attempts to win his fourth of five races while Webber tries to continue his steady improvement this season.

#1 Sebastian Vettel (LR #1)
Three wins, four poles and four podiums from the first four races for the defending World Drivers’ Champion. Apart from Michael Schumacher, has any other driver started a season so well? Schumacher managed three wins, two poles and four podiums in 2002 which is the closest comparable so far. In 2004, he had his epic 12 wins (and 12 podiums) in the first 13 races with only 7 poles over that stretch. Vettel could actually top that run depending on how the rest of the season plays out. Unlikely but records are made to be broken.

#2 Mark Webber (LR #2)
Webber’s finishes this season are (in order) 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd. Wouldn’t it be fun if Webber caps off his climb to the top step in the 5th race of the season so his finishes read 5-4-3-2-1. If only he can go a weekend without a problem in qualifying or with the KERS or with tyres, maybe he can pull off a win. It’s amazing that he can overcome so much adversity early in the season and still sit 3rd in the WDC.

#3 Lewis Hamilton (LR #3)
Lewis on DRS and passing at Barcelona: “It will be interesting to see how the DRS affects the racing. Typically, it’s been very tough to overtake at Barcelona because the best opportunity – into the first corner – is too fast to make a pass stick. It’s always been too hard to really get alongside another driver into the corner. But we benefited from two great races in China and Turkey because the DRS area led directly into a heavy braking zone, meaning it was possible to get two bites of the cherry: using the slipstream and using the braking zone. In Barcelona, it’s likely to be less clear-cut.”

#4 Jenson Button (LR #4)
Button on lessons learned from Istanbul: “Turkey showed us that we are still on a learning curve with these Pirelli tyres, and while in Turkey it was a hard lesson to lose position due to strategy, I think it’s given us a lot of valuable lessons in how to work as a team, how to devise our strategy and how to get the most from the tyres out on the track.”

#5 Fernando Alonso (LR #7)
Fernando at his home track is usually a sign that a good result in coming. He seems to be one of F1’s  few drivers that can get results at their home Grand Prix (apart from Michael Schumacher). In 9 Spanish GPs, he has seven points finishes (with one DNF and one race in a Minardi), five podiums and a win. Not a bad record all things considered. He had a 2nd place last year in a still underdeveloped Ferrari so maybe he can pull off something similar here.

#6 Nico Rosberg (LR #6)
Ross Brawn can talk all he want about Michael needing time to come around but he’s backing Rosberg 100%. Let’s face it, the last two MGP cars play right to Nico’s strengths. Michael needs a car to dance around behind him. He needs the front end to go where he wants and he’ll make the back end follow. Rosberg drives an understeering car which is the polar opposite to Michael’s style. Yeah, Ross, you’re doing just as much to ruin Michael’s comeback as Michael.

#7 Felipe Massa (LR #5)
So one race after suggesting that he could compete with his teammate this season, I seem to contradicted myself on the Alonso/Massa debate. Poor Felipe just isn’t going to be able to catch a break as long as he’s at Ferrari. First, it’s driving with Michael. Now, it’s Fernando. Who would’ve thought that Kimi Raikkonen would have been Massa’s most fair teammate.

#8 Vitaly Petrov (LR #8)
I know he’s no Bob Kubica but Petrov has clearly been the more consistent of the two Renault drivers this season. His finishes have all been in the points and was running in the top ten when he became Air Vitaly in Malaysia. He’s not quite got the car to the potential it showed in testing and I doubt he can develop it as well as Kubica but the young Russian hasn’t done himself a disservice this season. Best signing of the off-season?

#9 Kamui Kobayashi (LR #10)
Kobayashi hopes the team’s testing form carries through to the race: “Every team and driver knows the circuit in Barcelona extremely well from winter testing. Our car seemed to be good there in February and March. For the next Grand Prix weekend it will be important to focus on the set-up of our car with the new parts, and we will have to make sure the update results in an improvement in qualifying and the race.”

#10 Michael Schumacher (LR #9)
Seven-time on the Turkish Grand Prix: “While I was not happy with my weekend in Turkey, there have been clear signs of improvements for us as a team, which obviously push and re-boost my motivation even more. It’s more than encouraging to see that the hard work of the team is starting to pay off. We are all determined to make progress.”

#11 Nick Heidfeld (LR #12)
Heidfeld on Pirelli tires: “Well, with these new Pirelli tyres, there is not too much you can do to limit the impact of degradation from a driver point of view. However, the good thing is the R31 is quite gentle on its tyres compared to the other cars, which is a real positive for us. I think that through good general usage of the car the driver can help the situation, but what is more important is how the car is set-up. If the car is prepared well beforehand then it can put us in a good position.”

#12 Sebastien Buemi (LR #11)
Here’s today’s statistical anomaly of the day: Sebastien Buemi has as many points as Michael Schumacher. Both have six points in four races off 8th and 9th place finishes. It’s amazing that the Red Bull Junior Team #1 driver can essentially keep pace with the #2 driver of the Mercedes factory team. And let the pro and anti-Michael diatribe begin.

#13 Paul di Resta (LR #13)
Paul on the importance of bringing upgrades to Spain: “It’s usually a race where all the teams bring upgrades so we will need to take a step forward if we want to stay in the mix. We evaluated a new front wing in Istanbul and we hope to have more steps coming through in the near future. The team has been working hard on this new concept and everybody is quite upbeat about its race introduction, so that’s something to look forward to.”

#14 Adrian Sutil (LR #14)
I never thought I’d accuse Adrian Sutil of being a throwback F1 driver but the police in China say he is. Genii Capital (Renault owner) CEO Eric Lux is filing charges against Sutil for “for physical assault and grievous bodily harm.” Per Joe Saward, rumour has it that Sutil was drunk at a Shanghai night club and stabbed or slashed Lux with a broken champagne glass. Good to see that F1 drivers aren’t leaving all the criminal behaviour to NASCAR drivers.

#15 Jaime Alguersuari (LR #16)
Poor Jaime has two home races to run but I’m not convinced that he’ll see many races beyond them. We go Spain, Monaco, Canada, Spain (European GP at Valencia). I’m not convinced that he’ll have a ride after the summer break if Toro Rosso wants to run Daniel Ricciardo this season. Hell, if he doesn’t start scoring some points, he may not have a job for the return to Europe after the Canadian Grand Prix.

#16 Rubens Barrichello (LR #17)
Rubens is hoping for the best: “Barcelona is a great racing track and one that people know the most. It will be interesting to see how much the other teams and drivers have developed since we were there for the final test in March. I hope that we as a team can make a good jump forward in performance with our upgrades in Barcelona. I remain positive that we will.”

#17 Sergio Perez (LR #15)
I think we all drank the Perez kool-aid pretty hard when he finished in the points in the Aussie GP. After all, he made his tyres last on a one-stop strategy when none of the vets could. In his two finishes this season, however, he has a best finish of 14th. Teammate Kobayashi hasn’t finished out of the points yet this season. The Mexican pilot still has some work to do to cement himself for next season.

#18 Pastor Maldonado (LR #18)
Fun fact of the day (unless you are Pastor Maldonado): Third-last in the World Drivers’ Championship, using best finish as a tiebreaker, is Pastor Maldonado. The only two drivers without points that have a worse best finish are the two HRT drivers (Karthikeyan and Liuzzi). Venezuelan oil money might be great for Williams but the driver packaged with it sure isn’t doing them any favours.

#19 Heikki Kovalainen (LR #19)
Kovalainen on what makes Barcelona a great test for teams: “Barcelona is one of the tracks where we all know every single centimetre of the whole lap. We test there so much that it usually ends up with the whole grid having teammates side by side but it’s the kind of circuit where you can’t hide anything at all. If you are quick there you can be quick everywhere as it’s demanding aerodynamically, and if you struggle there you could have problems at a variety of circuits.”

#20 Jarno Trulli (LR #20)
I might actually move Trulli ahead of Heikki for next week’s race. The Spanish GP is being run back to back with Monaco and Jarno actually has a Monaco trophy to his name. Of course, it’s not like he actually made a pass to earn said win but he put himself in position by not having Montoya behind him in the tunnel. Yeah, Trulli’s win in 2004 came thanks to Juan Montoya running over the back of Michael Schumacher behind the safety car. Flukiest win ever?

#21 Timo Glock (LR #21)
Glock on the Circuit de Catalunya: “The Circuit de Catalunya is still one of the best tracks on the calendar because we drivers have raced and tested there so many times and can get straight down to it. The track has a bit of everything – very slow sections mixed with quicker sections and two very fast straights – particularly the start/finish – which is one of the fastest straights on the calendar. The weather can be mixed at this time of year, which makes it unpredictable and quite interesting for the race.”

#22 Jerome d’Ambrosio (LR #22)
Jerome talks about the differences between testing in Barcelona to racing there: “We tested here at the beginning of the season, but we will still have the usual set-up programme to work through because, with the track’s changeable conditions, a tyre compound can work well one time and less well the next.”

#23 Tonio Liuzzi (LR #23)
Really, HRT? You’re not going to release the standard generic quotes to the press for this weekend’s Grand Prix? What else am I supposed to say here seeing as you’re not making any progress? How can HRT be a quality enough effort to run in F1 but everyone who applied for the 13th spot wasn’t goo enough? Another logically conundrum from the FIA.

#24 Narain Karthikeyan (LR #24)
I’m pretty sure I say this before every Grand Prix this season but I have no idea what to write about Narain Karthikeyan. From F1 race driver to F1 tester to A1GP to NASCAR Trucks and back to F1 race driver. Such a strange career progression to go from the pinnacle to almost the pinnacle to off the ladder to F1 to NASCAR’s third highest series and back to the pinnacle. That Tata money…

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