18/03/2012
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
Red Bull is down but not out, according to Christian Horner. Second place for Sebastian Vettel at the Australian Grand Prix has encouraged the team after a missed opportunity in qualifying.
"We felt that we'd underperformed in qualifying with the KERS issue with Mark and Sebastian, I think, missing that last run in P3," he said. "We were compromised in qualifying so we felt that we definitely underperformed but in the race it was a very good recovery from both the guys."
A poor start from Webber, the result of an over-engaged clutch, dropped him down the order and almost forced him out of the race at the first corner. "Mark took a bit of a whack from all angles through that first turn," Horner explained. "I think a Force India hit him. There was damage to the rear of the car and I think a little bit of damage to the front, I haven't seen it yet."
Webber battled his way by Rosberg and Alonso while a gearbox problem for Schumacher meant the Australian was able to rise to fourth after a poor opening lap.
Somehow, teammate Vettel, who'd started one spot behind Webber in sixth, emerged unscathed from the first corner chaos. The German ran wide early in the race but recovered to take advantage when the safety car was deployed in order that Vitaly Petrov's stricken Caterham could be removed from the pit straight.
With the McLaren pair having pitted shortly before the safety car emerged, Vettel was effectively handed a free stop, allowing him to jump Lewis Hamilton and line up second behind Jenson Button for the re-start.
In clean air both Red Bulls enjoyed strong pace. "Mark was the quickest driver on the track for a long period of time," said Horner. "That gave us an awful lot of confidence."
Red Bull confess to being slightly off the pace of the front running McLarens, Vettel himself admitting that race winner Button was "out of reach."
"We always said in winter testing that McLaren looked very strong," said Vettel. "They had a very solid winter, no issues with the car. They did a lot of laps every day so we expected them to be strong. Yesterday they did surprise everyone a little bit.
"Today in the race it was looking a bit better for us," he added. "Nevertheless, they are the ones to beat at the moment."