Mark Webber had a poor start in Malaysia after his KERS system failed. © Sutton Images
Christian Horner has praised Mark Webber for his recovery drive to fourth place during the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Webber had a KERS problem during the formation lap which left him heavily exposed at the start of the race. That issue, coupled with a bad start put him back in the midfield, but Horner said that the team responded quickly with a strategy change which Webber maximised to great effect.
"He was unlucky at the start," Horner said. "He sort of had the worst of all worlds. The KERS went in to safe mode, an electrical issue we haven't seen before. So he had the combination of a bad start and no KERS at the second longest run (of all the F1 circuits) to the first corner, and not a great first lap where he lost another place to [Kamui] Kobayashi.
He was 10th at the end of it, so we decided to go aggressive with him, and went with a four-stop strategy. He needed to make it work, and his drive was a great recovery, so a combination of strategy and performance nearly got him back on to the podium."
After struggling to fifth place in Australia and having had Sebastian Vettel win both of the opening grands prix, Horner also said that Webber was not too downbeat with the result, pointing out that he has still picked up solid points from tough races.
"Obviously he'll be disappointed with the start, but I've spoken with him and he takes a lot of heart out of his performance. To only just miss out on a podium after the first lap he had was a great drive. I was really pleased. Mark's old enough to know how long the season is, and his points are invaluable. In difficult weekends he has picked up a fifth and a fourth place, and they will all count at the end of the day. I have no doubts his time will come this season, absolutely."
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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