'The fat lady hasn't sung yet' - Webber
Credit: ESPN F1 (http://en.espnf1.com)
Mark Webber: "We need to be there at the end, a lot of things can still happen in the race" © Getty Images
Mark Webber insists he is not giving up on his championship after qualifying fifth on the grid at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Webber has to finish eight points ahead of Fernando Alonso and within seven points of team-mate Sebastian Vettel (assuming Vettel doesn't win) to take the title at the end of Sunday's race. He is starting on the grid behind both drivers as well as the two McLarens.
"I'm not rapt, to be fifth on the grid is not very good," he told BBC Sport. "It's disappointing of course, but there's a long way to go tomorrow and the fat lady hasn't sung yet. I would have liked to have been further up but I couldn't get the base, it's disappointing.
He said he was priority was to finish.
"We need to be there at the end, a lot of things can still happen in the race," Webber added. "We haven't helped things with our performance today but we've seen races change and the championship hasn't been decided today. You could be more confident, but at the end of the day we're still in the hunt and that's the main thing."
Webber and Vettel broke convention in qualifying by setting a series of laps rather than going for two low-fuel stints. Webber went out earlier than Vettel, meaning he had more fuel and had taken more out of his tyres by the end of the session when the track was at its best.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted Webber's strategy may have been a mistake.
"It's a shame for Mark that he's not further up, it was a choice on that last run whether you go for one lap ... the tyres didn't feel like they were going to be ready and neither driver wanted to do one lap, they both wanted to do a sequence of laps. Unfortunately for Mark it just hasn't come together for him.
"It looked like the second lap was probably the optimum lap, Sebastian got the job done on that lap, unfortunately Mark lost out to Jenson [Button] by less than a tenth. But we need a good start and it's going to be a fascinating race tomorrow.
He said Webber must now pass Alonso to stand any chance of winning the title, while Vettel's race plan was obvious.
"The job for Sebastian is quite clear, he's got to get his head down and get on with it," Horner added. "Mark has to pass Alonso, he can't afford to finish behind him. The only way to beat him is going to be to overtake him now. We need good pit work, good starts; we know we've got a good race car. The degradation on the soft tyre is going to be a key factor tomorrow, it's something that we looked pretty good on yesterday."
Credit: ESPN F1 (http://en.espnf1.com)
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