Mark Webber bounced back from a practice day crash to launch his Red Bull Racing car to fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix while championship rivals Brawn GP struggled to make it into the top 10.
Webber had suffered an off in second practice on Friday, losing crucial running on the tricky and slippery street circuit and on Saturday morning had to feel his way back into contention. At the end of the session it wasn’t looking good, with Webber ending the final practice session 13th.
But it wasn’t an unlucky finish for Webber and in qualifying the Australian sailed through the opening segments of the hours to reach the final session top 10 shootout, an opportunity not afforded to Button, who, struggling all day for balance, was eliminated after session two, having to settle for 12th for tomorrow’s start.
And there was better news for Webber late in the final session. Title rival Rubens Barrichello, already in line for a five-place grid penalty thanks to a changed gearbox, was pushing hard to secure a front of grid slot when he lost control, hit the wall and brought out the red flags with just 26 seconds left in the session.
With no time for more laps at the restart that left Webber in fourth and looking forward to the possibility of a podium finish tomorrow. “It’s a tough day for Brawn but we know they have a lot of character and they’ll come back but we have character too and we showed that today,” Webber said. “Both Seb and I have put the car right up there. You never expect red flag in Q3 but that’s the same for everybody and now we’re in the hunt.”
To stay in the hunt Red Bull Racing will have to manage the ever-present possibility of safety car periods within the dangerous walls of the street track and Webber admitted the team had factored the possibility into their race programme.
“You do edge a little bit towards to having a neutralized race at some stage,” he admitted. “For sure we’ll have one safety car period at some stage no-one knows where. In the end though I think we’re okay on strategy.”
And that Webber believes will give his team a fighting chance of claiming a first win since his own maiden win at the German Grand Prix in July. “We were pretty confident of doing a good job yesterday but these cars are very sensitive in how you work tyres and how you make the most of the long runs,” he said. “We’ve got a long grand prix tomorrow so we’ll just have to see how it shapes up. We’re in good shape to have a crack at the win but Lewis looks very quick.”
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