Mark Webber secured 2 more points for Red Bull Racing today after finishing seventh in the Grand Prix of Bahrain.The Australian drove a strong race from a disapointing eleventh on the grid to score for the second race in succession. Team mate David Coulthard endured another tough day after incidents on the opening lap and a coming together with Jenson Button left his RB4 damaged.
Car 10, MARK WEBBER, (Finish Position 7th, Start Position: 11th)
"The guys did a good job here all weekend. There were quite a few incidents in the first few laps, which we were able to capitalise on. The first lap went okay for us, but it was very tight on the track, you always have to be careful here on the first few corners. There was oil or something on the track too at the start, which made things difficult. After that I got my head down and spent the rest of the afternoon chasing Jarno (Trulli)."
Car 9, DAVID COULTHARD, (Finish Position 18th, Start Position: 17th)
"I didn't make the best of starts. I really just wanted to get through the first corner and stay out of trouble, but unfortunately I became a bit of a pin ball as a couple of cars bounced off either side of me. That caused some damage to my car; I got a puncture and had to make a pit stop. The car was quite slow after that, but I was battling for position with Jenson (Button), who was quicker. We got too close in one corner and had an incident, which took him out of the race and caused more damage to my car. I came in to the pits again and changed the front wing. That made the car feel a little bit better, but it wasn't a great race."
CHRISTIAN HORNER:
"Mark drove a very strong race today, complimented by good team work, strategically and throughout all the pit stops. After feeling slightly disappointed yesterday to qualify in eleventh place, Mark had a very good recovery to finish a competitive seventh. Unfortunately for David, things haven't gone his way this weekend. He got caught up in a first corner incident that damaged his car quite badly and compromised the rest of his race. Other than that his car ran reliably. We've now got a busy couple of weeks including a test, and the team will be working hard to try and close the gap to the car's ahead."
FABRICE LOM, Renault Principal Engineer, Track Support:
"It was a good result. The car was much better during the race than in qualifying, as we expected. Mark did a good job and got two points, but it was a shame for David as an accident damaged his car, which meant he was unable to prove his pace. We were one of the best of the tight middle group today and we will work hard to catch our opponents ahead."
Well done Mark Webber. Must say his last two drives have been exceptional, reasonable starts and good solid race pace, I'm glad he's bagged a few well deserved points. DC will bounce back, we know the season can be a bit of a rollercoaster and unfortunately DC just had one of those unlucky weekends when not much goes right. Most pleasing was our racepace - we seemed genuinely quicker than Williams and Renault and extremely close to Toyota. Things are looking up people.
Well done RBR, great drive Mark. Things seem quite good heading to European leg of the season especially given that this was a weaker track for the RB4.
Mark seems to have finally learned to drive to the car ahead of you, rather than the car behind. He's got the pace to keep people behind him.
Exhibit A versus Hamilton in Malaysia
Ehhibit B versus Alonso in Bahrain
Very true RedWebber and the good thing is to coincide with this Webbers luck seems to be changing!
Well done RBR and Mark Webber. I hope that we did get a lift in race pace this race that carries through to further tracks. I look forward to our next update to hopefully close in a little further on Toyota, in both 1 lap pace and race pace.
I think with the banning of driving aids Mark has excelled this season. Unless we're just not seeing them during the race coverage he doesn't seem to be having any off track excursions like some drivers are experiencing from time to time. Lewis was impressed by his driving after following him around all race in Malaysia and Bahrain was yet another great drive. I'm really happy to see him driving solidly and finishing races in the points. Can anyone remember how Redbull were looking this time last year? I could be wrong but I think we'd had a couple of retirements and were without a point at the same stage last year??
He would be allowed to take on that amount of fuel had he made the top ten too. It is silly to say 11th on the grid is in some way better than 10 as the fuel can be topped up.
Duffer He would be allowed to take on that amount of fuel had he made the top ten too. It is silly to say 11th on the grid is in some way better than 10 as the fuel can be topped up.
Is that right duffer?
If so, why wouldn't you qualify on fumes and top up before the race? Any why would cars try to save fuel on the way back to the pits after Q3?
Or did you just mean you could top up at the start of Q3 and decide to qualify P10?
No, there is no direct disadvantage - but does a competitor in the top 10 really know how much fuel the other cars are running?
What if do like Rosberg - you decide to put in less fuel and go for a higher quali position - maybe you make some mistake with your lap, or you miss out by a few tenths and suddenly you're in ninth of eighth, minus the heavy fuel. Suddenly your not as high as you need to be - you can't adjust fuel anymore. And you've wasted another set of softs / hards, etc. You've taken more life off your engines...
the other thing is 10th would normally mean the dirty side of the track and 11th the clean. But yeah you can go into Q3 with whatever fuel load and who knows maybe someone else will have the same strategy and you will end up 9th
Good points webhead, but these guys really value track position even off the grid. You saw what it did to Hami in malaysia.
Having said that, I believe there should be no disadvantage at all for guys getting into the top 10. We need to see them running their Qually on fumes, then chosing theirfuel levels. This current form is somewhat gimicky.
Webber did a supernatural job! To see him so close to Trulli, and from 11th on the grid was fantastic. Part of me thinks it's his best drive for Red Bull (Although i'm sure some might think Fuji or Europe were better last season).
Looking again at a video of the Button / DC incident .... It seems clearer to me that Button caused the incident. He wasn't even turning into the corner at the time of contact.
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