Red Bull's efforts nullified as Vettel is excluded from qualifying
Mark Webber has qualified in second place for tomorrow's Abu Dhabi GP, but the big news for the team is that Sebastian Vettel will have to start from the pitlane after being excluded from the qualifying result due to a fuel system problem.
Mark Webber, Position: 2nd, (3rd Practice – P4, 1:42.743)
“I’m pleased with that, it was a good qualifying and I felt happy with the car. The track temperatures moved around from the afternoon to this evening, so you have to be careful how the car performs, but I felt comfortable in all three sessions and got a good momentum. McLaren were strong, but we’re in a good position and can have a good race from there.”
Sebastian Vettel, Position: 3rd, (3rd Practice – P3, 1:42.614):
“Third in Q3 was a good effort, but I should have done a bit better on the final lap. I had a little mistake in the final sector of my last flying lap, but it was still good to be third. I’m not sure what the issue was at the end, I was just told to switch off the car.”
Regarding starting tomorrow’s race from the pit lane: “One of the best ski jumpers of all times once said ‘Every chance is an opportunity and as far as we are concerned there are still plenty of chances tomorrow’.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal:
“During the slow down lap following the final run of Q3, Renault instructed to immediately stop Sebastian’s car on the circuit due to an issue with the fuel system. After speaking with the stewards, who accepted the situation of force majeure for technical reasons for the car to be stopped, unfortunately, for reasons yet to be fully understood, 850ml of the required one litre was pumped out of the car following post race checks. As a result, the FIA has excluded Sebastian from qualifying, on the grounds of a breach on article 6.6.2 of the Technical Regulations, and we will withdraw the car from Parc Ferme in order to investigate further. Therefore Sebastian will start from the pit lane for tomorrow’s race. We will need to make the most of Mark’s strong front-row grid position and Sebastian will have a busy evening ahead of him.”
