webber was so stuck behind that he might as well have been racing at monaco

what a horribly boring race

vettel deserved that win, he didn't do the slightest thing wrong all weekend.

Its frustrating that Webber just slipped back into the same pattern as last year, namely having good speed and matching vettel mostly, only to stuff it in qualifying. Just unnaceptable now in a car as good as the Red Bull. Its always the same, he qualifies behind slower cars and his race is completely ruined. He needs to up his game significantly, otherwise reb Bull should start focusing on Vettel. It doesnt help him that its a fact that Vettel is the best guy out there along with Alonso.

I couldnt beleive it when they said he had parked a meter in front of his grid spot. What the hell??? rookie mistake and lucky not to get penalised. and then proceeds to let Button close up right behind him the lap before his stop.

Id like to say something positive about his race, but the fact is there was nothing.

Just shocking,.. embarrasing. And im a fan....

Seb on the other hand was Supreme, deserved the win, even if Ferrari had the pace it seemed like passing was impossible. Conserved his tires like a pro.


If i was Dietricht Mattashitzzz i would seriously be looking at Kubica in the Red Bull for next year, if Webber has a couple more races like this one, Its not just bad luck anymore.

Kubica seriously impresses me, in Brazil last year he was fantastic I thought. Even today he looked good, i'd have him over Kimi for 5 times the salary ....... I rate him.

Everyone starting on that side of the track lost a position in the opening lap.

But he had a 1 metre head start, got a great launch and had a choice to junk left or right at T1 and went inside.

What irks me is that for the ENTIRE 2006 season he'd intentionally hang on the outside, get a great exit and gain 2,3, 4 spots by T2/3. It's like he's totally forgotton that.

Fine drive from SV

If MW cant sort out his qualifying issues soon he will indeed get stomped by SV

RBR.... SACKED GW and deserve all the reliability issues that come with a mind fart like that

Big thumbs down to the new format... the most boring year in F1 coming to you in 2010

Whatever has to take into consideration is that even with a mechanical problem Vettel still beats his team mate and holds of rosberg, he clearly beat webber last season in his first year with Red Bull, so vettel is the stronger driver, all he deserves is a realiable car.

You won't find me disagreeing in the slightest. I was saying 'no, no, no' when i saw he went even further in. Was kinda surprised he lost only two spots in there - and thankful he got one back quickly.

I was replying from a more 'a matter of fact' view point than anything else.

all around poor effort by MW, not much more to say about it.

Q SV1 MW0
R SV1 MW0

I think Kubica would the right person to replace Webber when he leaves at the end of the year. RBR would be stupid not to take him.

Do you guys realise that MW could/should have won this race. He's in the same car that his team mate put on poll and dominated with till a mechanical failure slowed him down. If MW had qualified the car where it was meant to go ie P1 or P2 this race would have been his once SV had his problem.

Instead, he still got beaten by SV - despite SV's problem - as a result of stuffing up Quali.

Was he simply unlucky and suffer from a random error or was this disasterous weekend or yet another hard luck story that seems to have typified his F1 career?

Very good points, I agree!
Just a result of stuffing up quali. Webber will be back strongly and he'll be very close to Vettel, just as last year.
All this talk about replacing Webber is crap.
Pity for Vettel, he had a very strong and fault-free weekend until this mechanical failure.
Doesn't bode well, though, for reliability again...
Let's hope the best.

Screw the 'lucky/unlucky' - a simply bad weekend at the office for MW and it just goes to show how important qualifying will be this year IMHO.

I'm sure he'll get one back on SV and I'm hoping for that in two weeks time with a nice 1-2 for the team.

...and we are basing this on what?

Jesus you're a handful sometimes. What's there not to understand? If Webber qualified P2 as he should have he'd have passed vettel with his problems. Thing is, he couldn't even manage that!

by the same token almost any of the top 8 would have won the race if they were 2nd at T1 and barring any mechanical difficulties

Yeah but unlike Mark, most theoretically did not have the car for it.

Webber has to pick up his game, and I am sure he will.

He HAS to qualify better/closer to Vettel. He lost many valuable points today due to his poor Qualifying. He should have been the first to capitalize on Vettel's problems!

Praise from Marko for Seb





This fits my impression very well. Note the fact that already on lap three they were focusing on conserving fuel and that the cornering speeds were so amazing. He can only made the fastest sector times in S2. The car and Seb look very good so far, let us hope that nothing will brake in Oz.


H2H

Not much to it today, obviously Seb gets "the point" for the weekend, tough break for him. Mark didn't do much wrong in the race, pitstop thing was just stupid, so over Mark losing spots there but whatever. The RBR still sucks in dirty air, you could feel the car losing front end downforce and washing wide from his onboards.

I'm reasonably confident for the rest of the year, all this "Mark must improve in qualifying ragh!" is all well and good, but it was a long track that dictated pretty much a single run, I'm pretty confident he'll do two Q3 laps from now on and be okay. Glad both drivers got points, much better start than last year, if this is a bad weekend then we came out of it okay. Roll on Melbourne!

The teammates looked about as far apart this weekend as they ever have. Seb brilliant, Mark amateur.

"Amateur" is way too harsh - but coming 8th in what was probably the quickest car on the day is way below expectations.

He really needs to work on his qualifying results.

Heartbreaking 4th for Seb. MW looks to be continuing with his career highs and lows. Sebastian deserves congrats for a great drive.

Geezus - I can't believe the amount of blood letting going on over Webber's weekend. Disappointing? Hell yes. But it was the first race - there's 18 more to come.

Obviously Mark has to improve on his qualy efforts from last year, the first race was an indicator of just how crucial qualy will be this year. Track position will be everything.

yeah I agree mate, the amount of Webber bashing going on here is disgraceful, its the first race of the season for gods sake. He makes a mistake at the worse possible time in quali which basically stuffs up his whole race. Anyone could have done the same. Not much he could have done during the race given his position and what transpired for him. People here crapping on about he didn't do this or pass here or was slow blah blah, read the bloody race report, most drivers stated it was night on impossible to pass cars in front.

Mark and also others like Schumacher stated they had trouble even getting close to the car in front and pass. Even Rosberg couldn't against Vettel with a sick car. Mark is currently one of the best at passing in F1, just look at some of the moves he pulled last year. if he says he couldn't do it then I'd believe him.

Mark -> "It was very, very difficult to stay close to the cars in front. "

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82137

Rosberg -> I couldn't quite get Sebastian at the end as I lost grip in the dirty air when I got close.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82136

So the Webber bashers seem to know better than the drivers? Pull the other one it plays jingle bells....

Seb basically drove perfect all weekend and deserved a victory. Mark looked solid and should have qualified top 4 which would have secured him a podium. Instead he chose the worst lap in the entire weekend to stuff up which is unacceptable in F1. Something that Webber fans can take heart from is that Mark has never been great around Bahrain so hopefully the next tracks will be a big improvement.
If he doesn't nail it in Australia I think it will seriously dent his confidence enough to be trounced all year.

Absolutely!

Mark had a piss-poor weekend but it all came down to one bad lap in Q3, from which he suffered for the rest of the weekend.

Every driver is going to make mistakes from time to time. Deal with it. If they make them constantly, then fair enough, - maybe it's time for a change.

Seb performed faultlessly this last weekend and deserved a better result. He was faster, nailed the lap when he needed to and raced with control, speed and intelligence. A fantastic effort.

On the other hand, if he'd made a mistake in Q3 and started further down the grid, there's little to suggest his result would have been any different from Mark's.

Mark made a mistake for which he can be justifiably criticised and he has undoubtedly had to deal with that in the team meeting already.

It isn't Mark bashing. Everyone behind Nico in 5th was in the same boat as Mark: mediocre qualifying or driving during the race. Whatever the reason, they were all in the same boat and trapped there. It was just one race. But for Mark, a veteran of many seasons, it isn't

Seb did a great job, but even with him I could ask why it was that he didn't seem to get serious in his blocking until 3 cars had passed. It is possible he was still trying to work something out to that point, but that was a bit weak, imo. Still, he did such a great job overall, it feels like I am being petty in raising the question at all.

Lol, you people do realise that was all due to qualifing mistake. If Vettel started back down the grid, he'd get stuck too.

Just wait next race when Webber doesn't make a mistake in his qualifing and starts at the front of the grid

How many times did Webber stuff up his qualifying in 2009? I remember Webber being outqualified by Vettel in almost all qualifying sessions last year, but how many times were due to his errors?

-KB

He also ran heavier in most qualifying sessions, the actual result (although vettel still was ahead more often than not) is much more even last year than people would have you believe.

It wasn't just his qualifying. He made a stupid error with his starting box (very lucky to get away with it) and dropped 2 places at the start and 1 in a pitstop.

Australia and Hungary were the only times last year I remember mistakes from Mark last year in qualifying, may be mentally blocking others out though?

A bad pitstop is his fault how? As Lom said, the engine problem did effect Mark through T2, otherwise Button never would've got past in the first place. Not that it really mattered, Mark got him back half a lap later.

Speaking of starts, both RBRs looked great off the line, Mark was attacking Rosberg off the dirty side of the grid, and Sebvet was easily ahead into T1. They seem to have put some work into that, if they are lighter that'll obviously help there. Could be important throughout the season

Who's Lom? Oil burn isn't an engine problem. I am hoping he wins his home GP, but you guys sound like a broken record with all the excuses.

Hugely disappointed Webber fan here. I am gobsmacked at how average this weekend has been for Mark.

3 tenths off Seb in Q1, 4.5 tenths off Seb in Q2, then, TWO mistakes on his flying lap in Q3. "I stuffed up Turn 16 in sector two. I had a big rear lock up into there which was a bit of a surprise, but I lost two and a half tenths in there then I was trying to get it back in 19 and managed to lose myself another four tenths!". I just cannot understand this mentality. Why would he try and make up time on a quali lap? If you lose a couple of tenths, cop it on the chin, don't go braking 5 metres later than planned in hope of miraculously making the apex. This is the kind of desperate approach he had in '05.

Then the race. Overshooting his grid slot by a metre *facepalm*. Choosing the inside line into turn 1 when he had the option of the outside *facepalm*. Then, on just about every onboard shot, he was missing apex after apex after apex after apex. I am just sensing '05 all over again. He went into that season fully expecting to challenge at the front, and he tried too hard, and made lots of mistakes. This season, injury free, is the only other season that he has entered expecting to challenge at the front, and once again it seems like he is trying too hard. He really needs to chill and stop overdriving.

Sorry to slam Webber so hard, but I am just hugely frustrated. I am a loyal, long term supporter of Mark and I have been looking forward to the season opener for so long. I really expected him to take it to Seb. I just sincerely hope he gets his head together and starts showing some composure.

It's easy to say that, but unfortunately the pinnacle of motorsport does not attract the pinnacle of posters.

not defending webbo here, i admit he had a shocker this weekend, but he did pass button around the outside of turn six on the first lap.

epic epic seb this weekend, deserved the win. he's some peddler

6string , couldn't agree more.

Paradoxically I now have even bigger hopes and expectations for Webber in Melbourne, after Vettel demonstrated what can be done in the car.

agree completely with 6string, especially about the point about choosing the inside of T1 when he had a clear choice of the outside as well. Shocker

In fairness to Mark, he wasn't the only one.

The only time we got shots of him was when he was close behind the car in front and his RB6 was understeering badly due to aero turbulence.

If you look at the on-boards from Button, Alonso and others, they suffered the same fate in similar circumstances. (Alonso almost understeered off the track when he came up behind Vettel!)

I think the reason it seemed more obvious with Mark was simply because he spent so much of the race following other cars quite closely (Schumacher, Button).

A couple of times he dropped right back to let his tyres recover, then did another run at the car in front. On the one occasion they had on-board video during one of these runs, he wasn't missing any apexes.

an option but i wouldn't call it a clear choice. he went wide and rosberg followed swung to the inside but lost momentum when rosberg followed. sure maybe wide was the way to go... but maybe rosberg would have hung him out to dry and he could have ended the lap fighting with senna. aint hindsight great

Despite being a Vettel fan, I feel people are overreacting here, it looks like a bad quali will destroy your race. Overtaking was almost impossible yesterday, running close to another car was a problem, demonstrated by alot of other cars.
Webber was losing a lot of time behind the Mercedes cars, who were not really quick second part of the race. Button could also not overtake.

While I feel Vettel wil be the better one of the RBR drivers, I don't believe the difference is as big as it was yesterday.

Yeah, same thing happened last year a couple of races in....and he was leading Vettel a couple of races later. Having watched seasons where his own team sabotaged him through their engineering incompetence, it's difficult to see an ordinary qualy in the first race and some speculation of performance in the 2nd having much to do with how he performs for the rest of the season.
Pointless "observation" to be honest.

Seb looks in a different class to Mark this year. Easily had 2-3 tenths on him in qualifying.
Mark with his trademark pants performance in Q3 again picking up where he left off last season.
Disappointing.

Its slowly starting to become Webber = Fisichella; he simply cannot hold things together in a top flight car, and it comes down to one thing... "pressure", and his inability to deal with it.

Agree, but so far it's only one race.

The regulations don't help either. Last year he could rely on running longer. That option is out this seaon. It soley comes down to qualifying and getting a clean start in the race. And Vettel looks to have the edge. If Webber qualifies well and Vettel qualifies bad, Webber will look like the star. But this doesn't appear to be very likely to happen often.

I don't necessarily think it's pressure. I think it's clear that Seb can drive to the limit over one lap without mistakes. Webber can drive to the limit, but it's hard without making mistakes. It used to be one of his strong points, but in the last few years it has changed. I think it's the pressure of having such a quick teammate, rather then the pressure of choking under pressure for no reason. Either way, it doesn't make much difference. Same result in the end. There will be weekends where Webber is very quick, unlike Fisichella. But for consistancy, Vettel looks to have a clear edge.

I think Webber had an absolute shocker but nothing like Fisichella. He out raced and out paced Vettela few times last year and had Vettel worried mid season, Fisi NEVER so much as looked like that against Fernando.

The one positive for Mark is that Melbourne and Malaysia are two of his best tracks, he needs to make it count.

Agree Malaysia is a good track for Mark, Albert Park not so much.
He has NEVER got a result there except that 5th in the Minardi on debut.
To me Albert Park is one of his bogey tracks.

If the pace margin stays the same between he and Seb though its not going to matter where they go.
2-3 tenths is day and night.

He's had rotten luck in Melbourne but has been quick there, he can set a lap there in the past. Wasn't he leading in a Williams when it parked itself?

Leading in 2006 only because the cars in front had pitted.
Regardless, a result is a result, and I have heard the words Mark Webber and luck being bandied around all too often.

Anyway, onto the next race but so far a dominating 1-0 to Seb.