Mark Webber said that Red Bull Racing have laid the foundations for a strong finish to the F1 season after an excellent qualifying session. On Senday, Webber and his team-mate Sebastian Vettel will line up third and second respectively behind pole winner Lewis Hamilton for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“They did a good job,” Webber said of McLaren’s performance in the one–hour grid shootout. “ We did our best and I think the grid today is pretty much a reflection of how the second half of the championship has gone. Lewis has been there or thereabouts and he was strong again today. So here we are again ready to go tomorrow. I enjoyed qualifying tonight. As always you want more out of it but it was a good lap. We want to finish on a high and we’ve laid the foundations for that today.”
Both Red Bull Racing drivers have been on the pace all weekend but in the grid shake-up Hamilton was untouchable, ending the final session on pole and seven tenths clear of second-placed Vettel. “It’s a great way to start,” Vettel said of his quest to seal second in the drivers’ championship after qualifying two places in front of Brawn rival Rubens Barrichello, currently two points adrift in the drivers’ standings.
“Looking ahead, though, both of us are a little bit surprised by the gap to Lewis but he has been strong all weekend, McLaren look good here,” he added. “We saw from Q1 and Q2 that it was difficult to match them, but we’ll see where we really are later when the strategies come out.
'It’s a great way to start' – Sebastian Vettel
“But I’m very pleased so far. We should have a good race tomorrow. But it’s obvious that the KERS button, which we do have on our steering wheel, isn’t working! But let’s see tomorrow. We have good race paceand the car is getting better so it should be good.”
Vettel added that the changing light during the sunset session, conditions which will be replicated for the start of the race, had not been a problem but that the track itself had presented numerous challenges.
“You get used to the light quite quickly,” he said. “You have to deal a little bit with the visor – using a darker one to start and a lighter one for the end. But it’s not a big problem. They have done a very good job here with the lighting, similar to Singapore. They are farther away but strong enough for us to see track.
“The track is challenging. Turn one is quite quick and blind, so it’s easy to overshoot and get in trouble. Then in 15, 16, 17 it’s easy to lose the car on entrance, it’s very easy to go waide and get off line where it’s quite dirty. You can lose lot of time there. “Obviously, turn one will be the key at the start and then that long straight,” he added. “I hope I’m ahead of Lewis but if not close to him and hope we have good space behind us.”
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