Mark Webber: Red Bull closing the gap at 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber says that they have reduced the gap to the front during the qualifying at 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix held at Sepang International Circuit on Saturday.
Moreover, he hopes that they will maintain a better speed at the race.
Webber had secured fourth place in the grid of the second GP and followed the pair of McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, and Michael Schumacher of Mercedes AMG.
On finishing at fourth at the end of the qualifying, the Australian driver said that he felt very encouraged by closing the gap to the front and expected a good race ahead.
“It wasn't too bad, we had a reasonable run,” Webber said. “In Melbourne we were a bit stronger in the race than in qualifying and looking at the gap to pole today, it seems we are two or three tenths off, which is a step in the right direction. We will
re-group and have a look at how we go tomorrow. We've made progress with the car from Melbourne though. It's tight between the first four rows, there's some very good performances going on from quite a few teams - it's good for the fans.”
Red Bull faced problems due to the upgrades made in the car RB8 during the final day of the last pre-season test held at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona and came last on the timesheets while only managed to complete 23 laps.
However, the defending champions had still been considered favourite for the championship title.
Besides, Webber expressed that he was aware that McLaren drivers would keep the front row for the second race at Sepang.
Furthermore, Webber’s teammate, Sebastian Vettel ran the car on hard tyres and finished sixth at the end of qualifying. In addition, Vettel said that he used hard tyres because he was facing problems with the medium compound while making the clarification
that it was not a part of some planning.
The double world champion also said that they still required the necessary developments and the significant preparations for the races ahead for which they needed to work hard.
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