May 8 (GMM) Red Bull looks set to dominate Sunday’s Spanish grand prix.
Locking out the front row of the grid, the RB6s driven by pole sitter Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were approaching a full second quicker than their closest rival on Saturday afternoon.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, the fastest non-Red Bull runner, was more than eight tenths slower than Australian Webber.
“I don’t think anyone expected them to be so fast,” he told the BBC.
Local hero Fernando Alonso shares the second row of the grid with Hamilton, mere hundredths ahead of championship leader Button.
“This should be a walk in park for the Red Bulls,” said the reigning world champion.
The Red Bull camp has been playing down their inevitable dominance throughout the weekend so far, but Webber suggested the team knew their car would be easily the fastest.
“(Team boss) Christian (Horner) said before the session ‘you probably won’t get to drive a car like this around this track very often so go and enjoy it’, and I did. It was a sensational quali session,” said the 33-year-old.
Michael Schumacher, meanwhile, confirmed his step forward with his updated car by qualifying sixth, two places ahead of the sister Mercedes.