With McLaren now top of the driver and team standings, RedBull have to dig deep to find the pace this weekend in Spain. Valencia is a circuit that will suit the McLarens, with long straights and slow corners, the track will play into the hands of McLaren.

McLaren have been very busy in the leadup to recent races further developing their car and have constantly been bringing new ‘bits’ to the race. RedBull however have not done this for a couple of races now. Adrian Newey was not present at the Canadian GrandPrix, instead he opted to spend time at the factory perfecting the team’s new F-Duct system. RedBull planned on using the system earlier then now, but have decided they need more time in the factory perfecting it before fitting it to the RB6. Valencia will be the first race that the team uses their new F-Duct.

Whether or not the F-Duct will solve the lack of straight line speed the RB6 has is yet to be proved but with such a big upgrade, the RB6 is expected to be more on the pace this weekend then it has been in the last couple of races.

Sebastian Vettel seems confident that the F-Duct is a very important addition to the car for this weekends race. He briefly spoke  to German sport publication, Bild about the upgrades.

“..with the F-duct system we are getting an important part on the car,” he said.

“Our technical chief Adrian Newey did not come to Canada in order to put the finishing touches on the new system at the factory,”

Christian Horner also added to Sebastians comments, stating: “The track [Valencia] has fast corners which should suit our car,” …” And if it [F-Duct] works, we will go even faster on the straights.”

It’s important to note that while Valencia has some quick corners it also has some very slow sections of the track at the end of long straights, in essence it has some elements that favour both the McLarens and the RedBulls, but if the RB6 can slightly improve its car this weekend we may see the team again being ahead of McLaren.

We are now at the pointy end of the season, with a bunch of solid European rounds coming up it is vital that the RB6 bounces back now in order to stay in the hunt for the title.