Vettel proves mettle yet again with sixth win in eight races

Valencia: Time to dust off the record books; it looks as if they may need to be rewritten. Sebastian Vettel's sixth win in eight races this year has extended the German's lead in the title race to a massive 77 points. It has also raised the deeply unwelcome prospect that we may be dealing with the deadest of dead rubbers by the time we leave Europe for the Far East this autumn.

Slowly, inexorably, Vettel's grip on this world championship grows ever more vice-like. Such is the 23 year old's lead he could set off on his summer holidays now and still be leading by the time we visit Spa in late August.

The German could even take Lewis Hamilton's towel for his sun lounger; the McLaren driver threw his in on Sunday, noting that Red Bull's cars "would need to fall off the track" for him to stand a chance at present.

We are entering dangerous territory here; slow death by asphyxiation. Not since Michael Schumacher bored everyone into submission in 2004 have fans been forced to contemplate hegemony on this scale. Schumacher won 13 of 18 races that year in his Ferrari, giving him a 72 per cent success rate.

The man they call Baby Schumi is currently ticking along at 75 per cent and, in any case, has an extra race in which to break his compatriot's record. Best ever?

Alberto Ascari also had a 75 per cent win rate in 1952 but the championship was only eight races long. This season has five months to run and you would not bet against him keeping it up.

Vettel's consistency is frightening. He has finished second in the two races he has not won this year and has claimed 186 points out of a possible 200.

Jenson Button won six of the first seven races in 2009 before his Brawn car stuttered. But even without winning another race that year the Englishman still claimed the title with something to spare.

Red Bull, by contrast, are showing no signs of falling away. On the contrary.

As Mark Webber pointed out: "Valencia is probably one of our three weakest tracks of the year — and we didn't do too badly today."

No indeed. The race was not expected to be a classic — Valencia's street circuit is singularly dull — but with the regulation changes this year there was some hope that it would not be another classic bore. Unfortunately that was what we got.

Vettel roared off from pole and was never seen again, Webber claimed second behind him, while Hamilton, starting third, got a poor start and was overtaken by both Ferraris.

Vettel, who turns 24 this week, is a brilliant young driver whose relentless quest for perfection is impressive. It escaped no one's notice that he set the fastest lap of the race when under no pressure, while bearing down on victory near the end of the race. He did not need to take the risk. He did it simply because he could; because he likes records.

As he crossed the finish line — his victory greeted by deafening silence in the multinational media centre — Vettel squealed over the radio: "Fantastic boys, I can't tell you how good this feels. This was such a nice race." At least he was happy.

— The Telegraph Group Ltd, London 2011