It wasn’t the greatest of weekends for Australian driver Mark Webber.
A mistake in qualifying meant that instead of competing for a 12th career pole position the 36-year-old had to settle for fifth place on the grid.
Webber and the Red Bull team had timed it all wrong during the final session of qualifying and a slow out lap prevented him from having a second run at pole position.
It left him adrift of team-mate Sebastian Vettel on the grid and behind both Ferrari’s of Massa and Alonso and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
?It?s disappointing to finish fifth. We didn?t get the timing quite right in the last part of Q3, I thought I had more laps. We were quick enough, but we went too slow on the lap when we should have been going quick and it meant we didn?t get a last timed lap in. The time doesn?t represent how comfortable I felt in the car today and it?s frustrating when you put so much work in and know you could have done better. I?m looking forward to the race tomorrow ? it should be interesting with the weather.? he told formula1.com.
The Australian was certainly half right, the race did prove to be very interesting, although the weather proved to be just a small factor in the race.
The race did get under way in damp to wet conditions, but a good start from Webber meant that any disadvantage he had from qualifying was soon forgotten. He slipped down the inside of the first turn to get passed both the Mercedes and as the corners snaked around the opening section of the lap, he managed to hold his line to also overtake the Ferrari of Felipe Massa to take third place behind Vettel and Alonso, inside the opening few corners of the lap.
Alonso had suffered damage to his front wing during those corners after he hit the back of Vettel and on the front straight, just after Webber had completed a pass to take second place, his front wing snapped off underneath him forcing him into the gravel and an early retirement from the race.
But whilst the opening laps were full of excitement it was the laps that followed the final rounds of pit-stops that left everyone talking.
Webber had completed his final pit-stop of the day and had come out alongside Vettel, the German did his best to get past his team-mate during the opening sequence of the lap, but he clearly couldn’t get passed Webber who controlled the lap.
But just a couple of laps later Vettel made a desperation move down the front stretch forcing the two cars to touch as Vettel fought tooth-and-nail for the race victory, ignoring the team orders to finish the race first and second with Webber leading.
The move prompted some interviewers to question whether or not Vettel held any respect for his team-mate and Webber responded in a very diplomatic manner.
?I think Sebastian has respect for me and I have respect for him, but the situation today was not handled well. It?s hard to put your finger on it all now after the race; when we?re racing on the limit and pushing as hard as we can, then it?s the worst situation for a team. I am sure they are bricking themselves and know that things can go wrong. There?s a bit of history to this as well; my mind in the last 15 laps was thinking about a lot of things, but I was happy with the way I drove. I tried to isolate what happened at the end and we got something out of it today, but of course I?m not satisfied with the result. This puts heat on a few people and unfortunately there?s no rewind button. I know people want raw emotion from us after these situations and it?s there, but we need to remain cool. There?s three weeks until the next race, so time for us to work on things.?
2013 Mal GP – Weekend recap – Webber
