He may only have taken two points away from the second round of the Formula One world championship in Malaysia, but Mark Webber was happy on several fronts.
Of particular satisfaction for the Australian was his ability to keep Lewis Hamilton at bay for almost two thirds of the race at Sepang. Having been promoted ahead of the McLaren driver after a controversial qualifying session, Webber found himself running fourth at the end of the opening lap, with Hamilton breathing down his neck. However, despite the supposed performance advantage over his Red Bull RB4, the silver car was unable to find a way through until the second round of pit-stops removed Webber from its path.
"Lewis was definitely quicker than me, but it wasn't like warp speed, he wasn't all over me," the Aussie wrote in his BBC column, "In these cars, it's so hard to follow - he has to wait until I get on the power and, once I am, I'm gone again. Even if he had 6-7km/h advantage on the straight, that's not enough to get close.
"No-one's going to pass you in the middle sector of the lap, so you basically have to concentrate on getting a really good exit out of turn 14, the penultimate corner on to the first of the long straights. I knew that, if I did that, no-one was going to get past me."
Webber again showed his potential over a single lap and, having been denied a chance to start inside the top ten on home soil in Melbourne, returned to the third phase shoot-out at Sepang.
"Qualifying was strong for us - I was eighth fastest before being promoted to sixth when the McLarens were penalised," he reflected, "That put us in a good position, and then I had a good first lap, getting up to fourth, which helped lay the foundations for the result.
"We knew we couldn't take the fight to Ferrari, McLaren and BMW, and Jarno Trulli's Toyota was obviously strong, which was a little bit surprising, but it was a busy race. Every lap, I had someone within a second or so of me, with Lewis for most of it, and Fernando Alonso in the last stint.
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Of particular satisfaction for the Australian was his ability to keep Lewis Hamilton at bay for almost two thirds of the race at Sepang. Having been promoted ahead of the McLaren driver after a controversial qualifying session, Webber found himself running fourth at the end of the opening lap, with Hamilton breathing down his neck. However, despite the supposed performance advantage over his Red Bull RB4, the silver car was unable to find a way through until the second round of pit-stops removed Webber from its path.
"Lewis was definitely quicker than me, but it wasn't like warp speed, he wasn't all over me," the Aussie wrote in his BBC column, "In these cars, it's so hard to follow - he has to wait until I get on the power and, once I am, I'm gone again. Even if he had 6-7km/h advantage on the straight, that's not enough to get close.
"No-one's going to pass you in the middle sector of the lap, so you basically have to concentrate on getting a really good exit out of turn 14, the penultimate corner on to the first of the long straights. I knew that, if I did that, no-one was going to get past me."
Webber again showed his potential over a single lap and, having been denied a chance to start inside the top ten on home soil in Melbourne, returned to the third phase shoot-out at Sepang.
"Qualifying was strong for us - I was eighth fastest before being promoted to sixth when the McLarens were penalised," he reflected, "That put us in a good position, and then I had a good first lap, getting up to fourth, which helped lay the foundations for the result.
"We knew we couldn't take the fight to Ferrari, McLaren and BMW, and Jarno Trulli's Toyota was obviously strong, which was a little bit surprising, but it was a busy race. Every lap, I had someone within a second or so of me, with Lewis for most of it, and Fernando Alonso in the last stint.
crash.net