Christian Horner: Mark Webber had poor start and KERS curse in Malaysian GP – Formula 1 news
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has stated that Mark Webber is no less a driver than Sebastian Vettel, but the Australian had problems with his car and had a bad start in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Horner commented that the Australian did a good job to bring the car home in fourth position after he had dropped down to tenth position in the first lap.
Mark Webber started the Malaysian Grand Prix in the third position. He was in tenth position just after the first turn of the first lap. After this, he spent most of his race catching up the first five positions. Webber’s RB7 malfunctioned right at the start
of the race when his Kinetic Energy Recovery System device went into safe mode operation.
The Australian overtook almost five cars in the course of the game with only one device working in the car, the Drag Reduction System. Meanwhile, all the other drivers had both of their systems working. Webber was inches away from finishing the 2011 season’s
second grand prix on podium from Renault’s Nick Heidfeld, but he could not do so.
Christian Horner does not see Webber’s performance as a complete failure when he commented, “He had the combination of a bad start and no KERS at the second longest run to the first corner.”
Horner added that the Australian did a good job to recover from his first lap position deficit and ended the race in 4th position.
Horner also explained the KERS problem as, “An electrical issue we haven't seen before.” The British team principal added that Webber was also not disappointed about the KERS failure as his teammate Sebastian Vettel was also facing the same problem at the
top of the grid. Vettel was able to take the first lap lead from all the drivers which proved to be decisive because in the last few laps, Jenson Button of McLaren almost took the game to the German.
“I have no doubts his [Webber] time will come this season, absolutely,” added Horner.
The next race is due in China and the Australian will be at least eying a podium finish.
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