Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Webber confident of no Australia repeat

Mark Webber is confident there will be no repeat in Malaysia of the car issues he suffered over the Australian Grand Prix weekend that left him unable to seriously challenge team-mate Sebastian Vettel

The Australian was uncharacteristically well off the pace of Vettel throughout the Melbourne weekend - and his Red Bull Racing outfit has since discovered several problems with Webber's chassis that could explain the performance differential.

And although Webber is reluctant to go into the specifics of what happened in Melbourne, he said in Malaysia on Thursday that things should be better for the event at Sepang.

"There were a few issues we found post-race which certainly did not help the situation," explained the Australian. "We are not going to go into it too much further than that. We will do a better job this weekend, get more out of the car and hang out at the front like we normally have been...I am not going to make a meal of what happened in Melbourne, so let's talk about Malaysia."

When asked if the problems were curable and that things should be better for Malaysia, Webber said: "Totally, yeah."

The aerodynamic demands of the Sepang circuit are likely to play to the strengths of the Red Bull Racing RB7 chassis, and Webber sees no reason why the team cannot carry over the form it displayed in Australia.

"We did well here last year, the car just won the last grand prix so we will see," he said. "It is pretty brutal on the track temperature; it will be interesting on the tyres. No one knows how that will unfold.

"I don't know what they have done in testing in Istanbul and other places - but this is probably the most extreme situation they have faced so far as a company. Let's see how they go, as even by their own admission they are expecting a few pit stops. We will drive around, make those pit stops and carry on."

Webber added that Red Bull Racing was also under added pressure to get its KERS working in Malaysia, with the long straights likely to leave Webber and Vettel exposed if they cannot use the speed boost in the race.

"We need to run tomorrow and see," he said on KERS. "We haven't tested it since Melbourne. It is the first time it has gone back on the car, so it will give us some more confidence here tomorrow."

"It's a no-brainer [to use it]. You need to get KERS working reliably and, well, it is something you should have on the car."

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article HRT set to use new front wing in Sepang
Next article DRS tipped to work better in Malaysia

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe