Red Bull driver Mark Webber explains pit stop issue during Abu Dhabi GP – Formula 1 news
Red Bull driver Mark Webber says that his bid for a podium finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ended with the first pit stop he took.
Webber had a few problems during the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He was running in fourth place close behind Jenson Button. Button had some KERS problems with his car and had to pit, which gave the Aussie driver to an extra lap to go for the
jump over the McLaren, but had a poor 10-second pit stop.
“In the end I had pretty good pace on JB anyway. At the end of the first stint he went one lap shorter than us which is no problem there with the strategy but then we had a bad first pit stop,” Button said.
“Obviously we lost a lot of time with that first stop and that put us on the back foot, I got the car back on to the back of them but we were just out of track position by then so that's where we lost the podium; the pressure on the podium was probably lost
around the first pit stop,” he further added.
The 10-second pit stop led Webber to lag behind Button and Felipe Massa. Webber used the DRS but it was not effective enough to move past him. This led him to go for a three-stop strategy as opposed to the regular two-stop strategy, but was still unable
to make up the time to take third.
Webber though mentioned after the race that the second DRS were really hard to utilise at the track stating that it was more of a gimmick. Webber had something hanging from his car during the race which he said might be due to some damage to the car as in
one of his laps he went a little wide in turn three which may have damaged the front T-tray.
Button’s third finish means that it is virtually settled that the British driver will be finishing second in the drivers’ championship standings. Unless he fails to manage a point in the final race in Brazil and Webber finishes in the top three, the McLaren
driver is sure to secure the second place.
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