Webber 'cool' with Q1 tyre choice

The Australian endured a disappointing day after being knocked out in the first qualifying segment for the first time since the 2009 season.

Webber was running with the harder tyres in his final stint, a decision which prompted questions about why Red Bull had not chosen the soft ones to help his cause.

Webber had been hit by problems in final practice, where he didn't get any significant running, and then was unable to use KERS during qualifying.

The Red Bull driver admitted the decision to use 'primes' was okay with him, but he simply ran out of time to get a good lap in.

"The team's, mate," said Webber when asked who had made the decision to use the harder tyres for the final run.

"I was pretty cool with it, but obviously we all started to panic a bit at the end when we knew we weren't going to get two laps. The tyre should have been enough, but on one lap it wasn't enough. And that was where we snookered ourselves really.

"You pay a big price in qualifying. I don't know the last time a Red Bull guy was out in Q1, but it has been a long time. That was our first time since 2009, for sure - as we didn't do it last year."

When asked what had gone wrong, he added: "One lap in P3. That doesn't help. We were a little bit on the back foot and just got the car together minutes before qualifying. We threw it together and went out - my first run was probably half a second shy of where it needed to be.

"Obviously KERS as well on top of that. We were on the bubble and then decided to go for another run on the prime to have a few laps at it, but we never got out quick enough so we only had one timed lap and added to that we had tyres that were not up to temperature. So that second set was a bit more difficult to get the job done."

The Australian insisted it was easy to judge Red Bull's decision after qualifying.

"When any top team goes out in Q1 we can all put the hindsight goggles on and say we should have done this or should have done that. In the end, for sure, option would have made life easier - and it is completely obvious that we could have made that decision. But we didn't as a team.

"And we all thought we would get enough laps on the prime to get the two timed laps in, but obviously we were a bit late going out and then it turned out we were on the wrong tyre as well - because of the timing."

Webber also said the team was still puzzled about its problems to get KERS working properly.

"Don't know. If you can tell us, you could have a job," he said.