Happy Webber welcomes third place

Webber, starting from behind all his championship rivals, decided to pit very early in the race, the charging through the field, moving from 12th to third.

The result allowed the Red Bull driver to stretch his lead in the standings to 11 points over Fernando Alonso.

Webber conceded he was delighted with third after a difficult weekend.

"I am very happy with third," said Webber. "It has been a pretty difficult weekend here for me, probably the toughest weekend of the year.

"I didn't feel mega comfortable here this weekend, so I'm very happy with how the race went. To get third I am very happy with it.

"It was easy to panic and worry about losing a lot of time behind guys. Getting out of bed this morning I would have taken third. This guy in the middle is hanging in there but we need to get rid of him soon.!"

The Australian was involved in an incident with Lewis Hamilton, with the duo clashing as the Briton tried to overtake.

Hamilton was forced to retire, but Webber could continue, and the Red Bull driver believes the incident was similar to that of Monza, where Hamilton made contact with Felipe Massa.

"Lewis certainly was a little bit ahead but it was similar to the last race with Felipe and Lewis," said Webber. "Felipe probably didn't know he was there. Lewis was quite a long way behind.

"This can happen sometimes, we brake completely on the limit. For sure it was incredibly tight, we did not hit that hard but enough to probably put both of us out of the race. Fortunately I could continue."