Red Bull recovers at Spa to finish 2nd and 6th
After a disappointing qualifying session yesterday, Red Bull Racing saw both its cars move up through the field. Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a very strong race to finish in second place while Mark Webber finished 6th, struggling to overtake people due to a lack of top speed.
Sebastian Vettel, Finish Position: 2nd, Start Position: 10th:
“I’m happy with that today. Qualifying wasn’t as we planned it to be yesterday, but today the car seemed to be back to as we know it. The start was poor; I think I was the only one not to gain positions through the first corners, so we had to fight our way back, which wasn’t easy, but I enjoyed it a lot. The strategy worked perfectly for us and we had the pace, which was the best thing about today. The car worked well and we didn’t struggle. Congratulations to Jenson and Mclaren on the win. We’ve got a lot of back to backs this season and I’m looking forward to Monza later this week. We had a great race there last year – it’s always a great atmosphere and we’ll be pushing hard.”
Mark Webber, Finish Position: 6th, Start Position: 12th:
“The start was pretty wild, which can happen at La Source. We settled into a race, but it became obvious quite early on that it was difficult for us to overtake. Obviously Seb and I had a little battle, which was fine – but after that, it just wasn’t possible to fight other people on the straight line, so that made it tough. We tried to under-cut some people and roll the dice... I had Petrov on the out lap, which is fair play to him as he’s just doing his thing, but we lost time there. We had a bit of luck at the start, but after that we didn't get the most out of the situation – but it was good to finish six places higher than I started and get points.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal:
“A great recovery – we had strong race pace. We didn’t plan a one stop, but we managed to make it work well with Sebastian once we got around the half way mark. His overtaking was excellent and our guys even went wheel to wheel on occasion, which was good and fair. To go from tenth to second was a great recovery. With Mark, we were hoping for more but I think our selection of top gear was probably a bit short today and it penalised him a bit when he was overtaking at the top of the hill. But, nonetheless he’s scored good points; I think in clear air he would have been very quick, but he was in traffic for most of the race. So overall, after a disappointing Saturday it was a positive Sunday.”
Cyril Dumont, Renault:
“A great recovery – if someone had offered me this result yesterday, I would have signed for it immediately. The start was not so good, but the strategy worked well and the pace of the car was strong. I think the most important thing is that we scored some important points in both Championships. We extend the lead in the Constructors’ and both drivers got closer to Alonso in the Drivers.”
