10/03/2011
NEWS STORY
Mark Webber believes that the biggest threat his team faces this season will come from Ferrari, admitting that in race simulations the Italian team "looks quick".
"I think Ferrari are strong," the Australian told reporters at the end of today's action. "I think we're going OK and the rest is hard to say.
"I haven't even looked at the times today," he continued, "they're not even of interest, you just focus on your own thing. I think we'll be in the top eight in Melbourne," he added with a grin.
"You can never have it perfect," he continued, "but we could be in much worse shape in terms of reliability. Hopefully we are not too far away from Ferrari to start with and we go from there. I think we're going OK but it's impossible for me to know what the red guys are doing. On race runs they are going okay, they look quick."
While the Ferraris might "look quick" in race trim, the big question is how they will perform in qualifying for races are often won and lost on Saturday afternoons.
"I would not put my house on qualifying in Melbourne," admitted Webber. "I don't know who has the outright pace. In terms of team preparations, it's the best we've had in terms of reliability and understanding the car. We know how many championships are won on Saturday afternoon, not many, so we're always respectful of what happens on Sundays, that's why we've done a good job in the past and so we'll keep focusing on improving that in the future."
When Felipe Massa was asked for his opinion on form, the Brazilian replied: "I point to Red Bull, they won the titles last year, but," he added with a wink, "I hope Mark Webber is right."