In China, the Red Bull team was stifled, says Mark Webber

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Mark Webber reflects on the performances of the Austrian team. For him, Red Bull was stifled by the competition, notably after witnessing the blistering pace of McLaren’s English duo, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Webber and his teammate Sebastian Vettel started on the front row of the grid, they only finished eighth and sixth. After struggling in tricky weather conditions, the Australian driver said: “We were suffocated, dominated… We weren’t fast enough. We have identified what makes the car underperform in wet conditions and we need to improve the car.”

He clarifies his point of view on weather phenomena:

They were difficult, but they are the same for everyone, and the car, our car, is sensitive in these conditions.

The race in China was a blend of spectacular overtakes, but with the rain and the two appearances of the safety car, the Red Bull drivers were unable to cope with their rivals.

Button clinched victory following his strategic masterstroke of opting for slick tires early on. This choice allowed him to lead for the remainder of the race.

It should be noted here that the Red Bull and McLaren teams have reversed their results compared to the Malaysian Grand Prix. Indeed, in Sepang, Vettel claimed victory and, with his teammate Webber, delivered a one-two finish for his team. Hamilton and Button had to settle for sixth and eighth place, respectively.

The Australian driver is thus bitter, but no one can take away Red Bull’s qualifying results since the start of the season, with four poles in as many Grand Prix. However, the team based in Milton Keynes is unable to maintain this pace during the race, especially if rain appears. In the end, for now, RBR has only one victory this season.

On his side, Vettel declares: “I think finishing sixth and eighth could prove to be very important for us at the end of the championship, but our main competitors are ahead of us… and that’s not good…. It was a very difficult race for us. We both struggled a lot with these conditions.”

The young German prodigy concluded: «Once the conditions improved, our pace was decent. But as you know with such weather it’s all or nothing, you first have to manage to keep the car on the track. We need to understand why we weren’t able to be there, especially during the restarts. We were lacking temperature in the tires.»

The pressure is on the Red Bull team, Dietrich Mateschitz and his team want results, and the only one that matters to them is the world championship title.