Webber unworried by Red Bull slump
Friday 29th July 2011
Mark Webber has insisted there will be no knee-jerk reaction from Red Bull in the wake of their recent dip in form.
After dominating all season, the team's supremacy and that of reigning champion Sebastian Vettel has come under threat in the last two races.
After winning five of the first six races, Vettel has only triumphed in one of the last four, although he has been second in two of those.
And after being on pole in seven of the opening eight grands prix, the 24-year-old has missed out in the last two.
In Germany at the weekend, Vettel was off the front row of the grid for the first time in fifteen races, and off the podium at the end of the race for the first time in twelve.
As for team-mate Webber, after starting from pole at Silverstone and the Nurburgring, the 34-year-old has been forced to settle for third on each occasion, extending his run of thirds to four.
With Ferrari and McLaren having closed the gap on Red Bull, they are now under serious threat from their two biggest rivals.
Assessing the situation, Webber said: "I was at the factory this week and there's no real knee-jerk reaction.
"Obviously we don't plan to start having meetings and planning more stuff any quicker than we probably had envisaged anyway.
"We know we don't take anything for granted. We've never done that over the last eighteen months.
"We know people (other teams) can arrive very quickly and hopefully you can pull away again as quickly as they arrived.
"So obviously (technical and design guru) Adrian (Newey) is working very hard with his group of people.
"Rob Marshall (chief designer), everyone, the guys are working very hard.
"We're not all cruising around. We're trying to do what we can conceptually for our car that's going to work for the remaining races, and you cannot redesign the car in three days, obviously."
Ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, where Red Bull are expected to be back on the ball, Webber recognises the fact the car's pace of late has dipped.
"We were a little off at the Nurburgring, not much," added Webber, who cruised to victory in this race last year.
"We challenged for victory, but we need to go quicker again, and that's what we've got to work on and address.
"It's by going racing you learn about yourself. You don't do that at the factory.
"We learn about going racing and that's the most important thing - to react in a positive, constructive way off the back of being beaten fair and square."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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