Webber finds a weapon

NORMALLY Mark Webber turns up in Australia the focus of formula one attention.

People who pay no heed to the sport from one week to another confidently pronounce on the lanky Red Bull Racing driver’s chances.

They often point to the handful of podium finishes he has accumulated during a seven-year career and his qualifying pace as evidence of a god-given ability that has yet to deliver on its promise with race wins.

But there is far more to the analysis of Webber’s career than the numbers would suggest.

Now 31, the native of Queanbeyan is fast becoming one of the game’s senior citizens.

Acknowledged by his peers and those in the know as fast and fearless, he has not helped his cause by wrong choices. The decision to go to Williams when the storied British team was about to plunge into a mini decline was perhaps the most grievous error he has made, but he knows that there is little point in dwelling on past errors.

Webber also knows that it can be dangerous to make too many assumptions, especially from the opening day of a grand prix weekend.

But in a year when, ironically, the pre-race hype has been rather less on him than before, Webber might, at least on the evidence of yesterday’s efforts, be feeling he has some chance of equalling his best Albert Park performance of fifth place.

That was achieved in his debut season for the unconsidered Minardi squad in a race of attrition when several fancied runners failed to finish.

Webber yesterday topped the timesheet for much of the second 90-minute practice session, his time of one minute 27.473 seconds beaten only in the last few minutes by the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, a man many tip to take out this year’s title.

In the first practice period he had also run prominently, setting the fifth fastest time in the morning behind world champion Kimi Raikkonen. The times in the first session were generally quicker than those after lunch — except for Webber’s — and on a combined basis the Australian was fifth fastest overall, behind Raikkonen, Hamilton, Raikkonen’s teammate Felipe Massa and Hamilton’s running mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Still, Webber is too knowing to make wild predictions, although he did suggest that, given reliability, he was confident of a points-paying finish.

“It was good but I’m not prepared to read too much into it,” Webber said. “Yeah the car’s not working too bad but we’ve got some issues that we’ll continue to look at — we will have a look at that tonight — but I’m actually pretty happy with the car. The guys have done a pretty good job. Actually I had a pretty smooth ride.

The key to his chances tomorrow will be Red Bull’s reliability. Last year it was poor, and he knows that without a significant improvement the car’s pace nor his skill in qualifying will count for little.

“Obviously the reliability was very poor last year and absolutely unacceptable the amount of break-downs we had, but this year the team’s worked really hard on addressing those things. If we are there at the end on Sunday with a good smooth race, we will be in the points, for sure.”

The heat will take its toll, on both car and driver.

“For the car we have a very good water system, it’s like a kettle, about 100 degrees, you could put a teabag in it — we tested that today — so that makes it really comfortable. Technically the car seems to be going all right — as far as I’m aware the car has been pretty sound in these temperatures.”

Last year’s rookie sensation Hamilton has fond memories of the Albert Park circuit — it was where he made such a memorable debut 12 months ago with a podium finish — and he acknowledged his liking for the Melbourne race.

“It’s great to be back here,” he said, before confessing himself satisfied with his car.

“There was some good progress with the car, and we made the best use of the ever-improving track conditions. However, our main opposition looks strong, but it’s still too early to tell exactly where we are in comparison. All in all, it’s a good start.”

McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Hamilton’s teammate Kovalainen both said the strong winds had made life difficult for evaluating the car’s set-up. “There was some graining of the tyres due to the dirty track conditions but things improved as the circuit got more grip,” Kovalainen said.

Raikkonen, who was quickest in the first session, was only sixth fastest in the afternoon. The Finn was not happy with his day. “This morning we found some good settings for the car, but in the afternoon we struggled and our lap times reflect that.”

« Hamilton shows he’s man to beat | Double Vision »

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Orlando Motors Sport üzerinde şu anda okumakta olduğunuz 'Webber finds a weapon' isimli yazı 18 Mar 2008 tarihinde, saat: 02:34 'de admin tarafından gönderilmiş.

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