Webber blames tyre choice for struggle

Webber endured a dismal Grand Prix, first missing the opening cut in qualifying on Saturday and then showing no competitiveness during the race.

The Australian had to settle for 12th position and said that a mistake when choosing their Bridgestone tyres was to blame for their struggles.

"For this event we picked the wrong tyres and we didn't have any grip at all due to the high levels of degradation the tyres suffered," said Webber. "I got a little bit of grip back towards the end of the stints but when all four tyres were completely grained, it was unfortunately impossible to drive the car.

"On the positive side, we got to the end of the race which is good from a reliability perspective and the team did a good job in the pitstops, but we were too far off the pace today."

Teammate Nico Rosberg failed to make it to the end of the race after crashing against the wall when making contact with Juan Pablo Montoya's McLaren's on the second lap of the race.

The German said the McLaren driver was at fault.

"I claimed one place off the start and I thought that the car felt really good and we could possibly be in with a chance of some points today," he said. "I was aware Montoya was close behind me, but I knew I could defend my position as the car was really good on the brakes.

"I choose an outside line and left enough room for him to come inside me into the chicane, as I knew if he did pass me, I would get ahead again coming out of the corner.

"However, he came in really tight and we were never going to make it round the corner together. I felt him hit me from the rear once, then again, and that was it, my race was over."