Webber’s poor Australian show prompts inquest
Alonso refuses to term Australian GP disastrous.
MELBOURNE:
Mark Webber admitted that his disappointing fifth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix will lead to a lengthy examination of the possible reasons behind his below-average finish.
As Red Bull engineers attempt to find out why he was so far behind teammate Sebastian Vettel, Webber lamented his lack of grip, which had a negative impact on the longevity of his Pirelli tyres.
“We found a few pointers in the data but we’ll need to strip the car down before drawing any conclusions,” said Webber. “Only then will we know whether there was something fundamentally wrong with the car.
“I struggled with a lack of grip. That affected the longevity of my Pirelli tyres because the degradation was higher on my car than on Seb’s. I was forced to make three pit-stops during the race.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was also troubled by Webber’s performance.
“That was the biggest gap we’ve seen between the two of them,” said Horner. “We found some front-wing damage that might’ve had an effect, but to what extent is difficult to quantify. We need to get the car back, look at the data, understand if there’s anything that was damaged and how it affected the car.”
Alonso encouraged by performance
Fernando Alonso has said that the Australian Grand Prix was not a disaster for Ferrari, despite the team failing to get on the podium.
Ferrari had looked like the most likely challenger to Red Bull throughout pre-season testing, but they struggled during the race. Although Alonso could only manage fourth place, the double world champion opted to take a positive view of the events.
“It wasn’t the start that we wanted but nor is it anything to get worried about,” he said. “Twelve points isn’t far below the world champion’s average last year and two title contenders finished behind me. So overall it can’t be defined as disastrous.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2011.
Mark Webber admitted that his disappointing fifth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix will lead to a lengthy examination of the possible reasons behind his below-average finish.
As Red Bull engineers attempt to find out why he was so far behind teammate Sebastian Vettel, Webber lamented his lack of grip, which had a negative impact on the longevity of his Pirelli tyres.
“We found a few pointers in the data but we’ll need to strip the car down before drawing any conclusions,” said Webber. “Only then will we know whether there was something fundamentally wrong with the car.
“I struggled with a lack of grip. That affected the longevity of my Pirelli tyres because the degradation was higher on my car than on Seb’s. I was forced to make three pit-stops during the race.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was also troubled by Webber’s performance.
“That was the biggest gap we’ve seen between the two of them,” said Horner. “We found some front-wing damage that might’ve had an effect, but to what extent is difficult to quantify. We need to get the car back, look at the data, understand if there’s anything that was damaged and how it affected the car.”
Alonso encouraged by performance
Fernando Alonso has said that the Australian Grand Prix was not a disaster for Ferrari, despite the team failing to get on the podium.
Ferrari had looked like the most likely challenger to Red Bull throughout pre-season testing, but they struggled during the race. Although Alonso could only manage fourth place, the double world champion opted to take a positive view of the events.
“It wasn’t the start that we wanted but nor is it anything to get worried about,” he said. “Twelve points isn’t far below the world champion’s average last year and two title contenders finished behind me. So overall it can’t be defined as disastrous.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2011.