By Ian Lockwood
February 21 2011

After Sebastian Vettel yesterday went through qualifying and race simulations, more of the same was planned for today, though this time it was to be Mark Webber’s turn to steer the RB7 through the sharp end of a race weekend – until the weather intervened.

"We had a lot of rain overnight and it did upset our plans for Mark today," explained Head of Race Engineering, Ian Morgan. "The conditions in the morning meant we couldn’t do a P3 or qualifying simulation, but it did allow Mark to get some running on the intermediate tyres, which was useful as he hasn’t had that opportunity before.

"In the afternoon, with the track dry, we got down to the race simulation and I’m happy to say we got through that with absolutely no problems, which is always encouraging. It was a shame Mark didn’t get to do a qualifying simulation but it was a pretty productive day otherwise, with some time on inters and the full race in the afternoon, so we’re happy enough."

Mark Webber concurred, saying: "Today went well, with nearly 140 laps completed, and you can’t complain about that. Obviously, we now have a lot of data to digest and we’re learning a huge amount about this car and how to get the best from it. It was damp all morning and that meant we had a pretty condensed programme this afternoon but we got through it well and, I have to say, the car ran really, really well. A good day and we’ll come back tomorrow to learn some more."

Driver: Mark Webber

Car: RB7 – 01

Laps: 138

Best time: 1:24.995

Circuit length: 4.655km

Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg (1:23.168)