Webber: “The bad start hid my true pace”

Mark Webber said he never got the chance to show his true pace at the Belgian F1 GP. While his teammate flew towards an authoritative victory, the Australian was conditioned by a bad start which saw him lose many positions.

“The two starts we made on the formation lap and towards the grid had already not been good at all, so we talked about how we could improve the clutch in the period leading up to the start of the race. It was very difficult to understand what could happen. Then, when you're not in your position and you try to overtake other cars, you make more use of the tires" explained Webber.

“Then there is the problem of the gear ratios. The last gear was good but only on a clear track, and with the DRS it is difficult to make good use of the gears. We know that it's nice to have a free track in this category these days."

Webber caught up on Nico Rosberg but was unable to pass him: “Maybe I would have stayed behind him all day. He was strong in the first sector and we didn't have the top speed to pass him."

Red Bull tried to vary Webber's strategy by using the hard compound in the middle stint: “We had to try something. The two stops with the leaders were a gamble to try to pass the Mercedes. When you're behind you have to try to do something different. Ultimately our track position was our Achilles heel. The pace wasn't really a problem, but we couldn't show our pace."