Saturday: Red Bull limits the damage compared to Brawn
The day began with uncertainty for Red Bull Racing. Sebastian Vettel suffered a motor problem, leading to the interruption of the free practice session for almost half an hour. It’s one less engine for the German but, more importantly, valuable testing time lost. Therefore, nothing much will be said about his modest 18th place. However, […]
The day began with uncertainty for Red Bull Racing. Sebastian Vettel suffered a motor problem, leading to the interruption of the free practice session for almost half an hour. It’s one less engine for the German but, more importantly, valuable testing time lost. Therefore, nothing much will be said about his modest 18th place. However, Mark Webber’s 17th place was much more concerning…
In the end, during qualifying, the team managed to recover to not give away too much ground to Brawn GP, their competitor in both championships. Vettel will start 4th on the grid in Valencia on the dirty side of the track. Webber is a bit further back in 9th position, but on the clean side. Nothing is decided yet, so the team can feel reassured tonight.
Sebastian Vettel – 18th and 4th:
« I wanted to be further up on the grid for tomorrow, but I think it’s the best we could hope for so I’m very happy, especially since I didn’t do many laps this morning. I’m quite confident. We made a step forward this morning and then another for qualifying. McLaren seems strong, and it’s difficult for other cars to get close to the two drivers. We will see how fast they are in the race tomorrow, but starting first and second, they have a good chance of winning the race. We want to win too, so we’ll see. I like this track; it’s a bit more difficult for us to be on top here, but it will be a long race with many obstacles.
Mark Webber – 17th and 9th:
« We expected a tough qualifying session today, and that was the case. We thought we would be in the top six or eight, so it wasn’t the best day for us. It’s one of our worst qualifying sessions in a long time, but we’ll see in the race how the situation evolves. Red Bull knows how to fight, and I hope to score points. »
Christian Horner – Team Principal:
« After a difficult period for Sebastian [Vettel] during free practice 3 where he lost an engine, his team made a great effort to install another one for the qualifying. The McLarens are too fast, the advantage with the KERS is felt here but we can be satisfied with the 4th place. One-tenth of a second for Mark [Webber] would have made a big difference in his grid position. From 9th place, he would have moved to 6th but he might have a bit more fuel. Our goal is obviously to finish ahead of the Brawns.
