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Webber savours return to podium

Australian Mark Webber savoured his return to the podium after finishing in third place at the European Grand Prix on Sunday

The Red Bull Racing driver took full advantage of the chaotic conditions to emerge in fourth place, and he then moved into third when Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen retired.

It was Webber's second podium finish in Formula One, the first one scored at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2005.

"This is a podium I can enjoy on a special day for us," said Webber. "The team deserves it after all the effort that has taken place behind the scenes.

"It's great to get some points on the board, especially as David finished fifth as well. I didn't have a good start and was on the back foot, the rain certainly came much earlier than we expected.

"We had to make a quick decision and went for the intermediates, but as the rain got much worse we were aquaplaning really badly. The FIA took the right decisions in bringing out the Safety Car and then suspending the race.

"I did a long run on the grooved tyres, which helped me pull away from the guys behind, even if I struggled a bit in the middle stint with the rears.

"I have to say I wasn't too disappointed to see Kimi retire. Towards the end I began to think I had it in the bag, but I thought 'oh god' when I saw the rain coming again. In the final part I had massive vibration from the rear tyres and that's why Alex got so close."

Red Bull completed their strongest result in Formula One thanks to David Coulthard coming home in fifth position.

"I'm very happy for the team," said the Scot. "It's obviously been a difficult start to the year with some reliability issues, but nonetheless to show the pace we did in this race was good and the calls we made on strategy were a credit to the team; the pit stops were great.

"After such a bad qualifying, it was only ever going to be a change of conditions like these that was going to give us a chance to move forward and we ended with a podium and a fifth place for me."

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