2nd place for Vettel, no points for Webber
After a 1-2 at the Chinese Grand Prix, the Red Bull Racing F1 team was a bit dissapointed to end up with a second and eleventh position finish, thus adding just eight points to the tally. Mark Webbers weekend was highly affected by a qualifying incident involving Force India's Adrian Sutil, which prevented him from posting a better lap time. But Sebastien Vettel's Bahraini weekend faired much better, with a near win finish right behind Jenson Button.
Car 15, Sesbastien Vettel, (Finish Position 2nd, Start Position: 3rd): "Very good. A good result and good points, but it was a difficult race.The start wasokay, but then suddenly Lewis (Hamilton) was next to me - he must havepressedhis special button and got an advantage. At the first corner we were threedeep, mein the middle and Jenson (Button) on the outside, so I had to give way andlost twopositions. Unfortunately I then got stuck behind Lewis, which causeddegradation tothe tyres - you start to slide and never really come back from that. It'shard brakinghere so you need the tyres and rear stability. In the second stint I was just behindJarno (Trulli), which was a shame as I was on soft tyres and could havegone a bitquicker. In the third stint, it was the other way round and I had todefend againstJarno who was then on the soft tryes. He was very close in my mirrors, butI didn'tmake any mistakes and we came second! A massive thanks to all the guys forthisgreat result."
Car 14, Mark Webber, (Finish Position 11th, Start Position: 18th): "My start was okay, we had a reasonable first few laps, but then I got stuck behind Piquet. It's very difficult to overtake a car with KERS, he was too quick on the straights and that really wrecked the first stint for me. We thenconvertedto a two-stop strategy, but the grip was quite low on the prime tyres,although itwas the same for everyone. If you don't start near the front in theseraces weknow the score, but I did my best. It was a good day for Sebastian, which shows the performance of the car. My mechanics worked like hell and the car was reliable, so we'll have our day."
Christian Horner: "Turn two dictated our afternoon, when Jenson (Button) and Lewis (Hamilton) managed to nip past Sebastian. He then lost a lot of time in the first stint behind Lewis and in the second stint behind Jarno (Trulli) when he was on the prime tyre. When he had the overlap and free air, he was very quick and was able to get himself up into second position. So, a great result, another eight points, we’re still second in the Constructors’ Championship and we had a car that was quick enough to win again today. Mark drove a difficult race from a difficult starting position. He had good pace but, as almost all the cars finished, 11th was probably the optimum for him today.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: "Mixed feelings! Second is a place we can enjoy – it’s a very good result, 26 points from two races is very special for the team, but we had a car that was able to win today, so there’s a bit of disappointment too, and also for Mark. He was very quick, but when you start so low on the grid, it’s very difficult to overtake, especially the KERS cars. But, it’s a good result and we have a lot of points in the bag as we move to Europe."
Source: Red Bull Racing
