Vettel claims Red Bull on back foot
Monday 25th July 2011
Sebastian Vettel conceded he and Red Bull are now on the back foot following their worst performance of the season to date in Germany.
The defending world champion won six of the opening eight races this year but finished off the podium for the first time on Sunday with a fourth place at the Nurburgring.
His Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, meanwhile, led for the first time this season after claiming pole position but eventually slipped to third behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
With Red Bull having enjoyed a large advantage during the first half of the season, Vettel acknowledged that Ferrari and now McLaren have shown improvement in the last two races.
He said: "Of course it's not satisfying, but I think we have to accept that today other people were quicker than us.
"As I said surely I'm not happy - so I have to come back next time but for now I think they (McLaren) have been working and improved their car so we need to make sure that we come back."
After qualifying third - his worst performance of the season - on Saturday, Vettel survived an early spin in his home race and fell as low as ninth place.
He ran fifth behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa during the closing stages but got ahead of the Brazilian when both were forced to make mandatory pit stops on the 60th and final lap.
Of his own performance, Vettel said: "I didn't feel very good all weekend, I never got to the pace probably that Mark had in the car and, as I said, I struggled to keep up, after the three or four laps of the warm-up stage is over, with the top two or three cars."
He added: "Generally I think fourth anyway was probably our maximum today which is not satisfying, but you know we have to accept it and go from there.
"Next week is the next race and it looks like McLaren and Ferrari are getting quicker and quicker -- so we need to work harder on our car to try and improve it in order to be back on the podium and maybe stand on the top step again."
Webber said he also felt that Red Bull had lost performance in comparison with their main rivals.
The Australian said: "I think it's clear to see. Everyone is reasonably intelligent up and down this pit-lane when it comes to performance - so we know that in the last race at Silverstone, which has normally been a very, very good track for us, Ferrari were very quick there.
"Today there was not much more we could have done to challenge for the victory and we hung in the fight as long as possible, but in the end we got out-punched."
Webber rejected suggestions that his second pole in as many races indicated that he and Red Bull were still the outright pacesetters.
The defending world champions have a 100 per cent record during qualifying this season, although Ferrari and McLaren have closed the gap on Saturdays while also enjoying more favourable race pace.
Webber said: "We know that the prizes and points are handed out on Sunday afternoon - Saturdays have always been a strong area for us, the team and the car, it's not something that we inherently design in the car.
"We want to do it on Sundays as well, so it's something the team will work on and chip away at. We have good people and we know what we need to do to try find some more performance on Sundays."
Vettel still enjoys a 77-point lead over Webber in the drivers' standings, while Red Bull lead McLaren by 112 points in the constructors' championship.
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment