Red Bull in good shape: Webber
Monaco, 26 May 2012: Mark Webber reckons he has a “very good car” with which to aim for his second Monaco win from pole position after he inherited the front-of-grid slot thanks to pole winner Michael Schumacher’s five-place penalty, says an FIA press release.
Webber, who won here in 2010, was in provisional pole position today as the clock ran out in the Q3 top-ten shoot-out in Monaco, but Michael Schumacher was still on track and the German quickly notched his first pole position since the French Grand Prix of 2006. However, the seven-time champion’s joy was tempered by the knowledge that he will start from sixth tomorrow, having been hit with a grid penalty after the Spanish Grand Prix where he crashed into Bruno Senna.
The German’s misfortune was a bonus for Webber though as he now moves up to the front of the grid for the first time since he took pole position in Germany last year. “Pretty amazing session wasn’t it,” he smiled afterwards. “It was very close. Q3 was tight between the first few rows. Michael did a good lap, fair play to him, but it’s nice to move up a position. Of all places, it’s good to start definitely towards the front here.
“We weren’t too strong on Thursday and obviously didn’t get much running, though everyone’s the same, but the car on Sunday is generally pretty good, so looking forward to tomorrow. [It’s] a very good position to be starting tomorrow and we have a very, very good car. The guys have done a good job and I’m very happy with today’s effort.”
Webber added that the team had worked hard to recover from Thursday’s poor showing and admitted that he too had played his part it he improved performance. “We certainly pulled the balance together a lot more,” he said. “Obviously, there are no real fast corners here but there are a few where you need to be able to keep the car in the line, especially into Casino but also through the Swimming Pool. You need to have a very good rhythm and pace through there, which we didn’t really have on Thursday, so the car, between low and high speed wasn’t great. We really really pulled that together.
“Also I think the track helped as well, the rubber on the circuit helped pull it together,” he said. “The driver always brakes a little bit later on Saturday, so that helps a bit as well. Altogether the guys have done a great job and I think we got the maximum, actually, from what we could do today.”
Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was less pleased with his Saturday afternoon efforts, the defending champion admitting he had taken a wrong turn on set-up. “It was looking very good this morning, but then I think we took a step in the wrong direction and ended up with a difficult car for qualifying,” he said after qualifying 10th. “It’s a bit of a disappointment, as Mark showed what the car can do around here, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.” Vettel will start ninth tomorrow thanks to Maldonado’s penalty.
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