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Webber trusted Alonso in Eau Rouge

ESPNF1 Staff
August 31, 2011

Mark Webber slips up the inside of Fernando Alonso heading into Eau Rouge © Getty Images

Mark Webber said he would not have attempted his breathtaking overtaking move through Eau Rouge at the Belgian Grand Prix with every driver on the grid.

Webber nailed Fernando Alonso through the entrance to the 185mph switchback where drivers experience two Gs of compression as the track angles upwards and kinks to the right. The Red Bull driver kept his throttle wide open throughout, forcing Alonso, who had just exited the pits, to lift and file back into position.

The cars were inches from each other at the fastest point of the corner and when asked if Webber had calculated the move or it had been made on impulse, he responded: "Well, you don't have much time to get the calculator out at that point, mate, so I think most of the race I was still charged with frustration from the start, so when I came out behind Fernando, obviously we were very, very close going down into Eau Rouge and I knew Fernando would have been using some KERS so I was using some KERS as well. I got a tow, obviously, and then I thought if I can get to the inside then I might have the line but obviously both of us are very experienced, we both don't give much too easily, so it was a good battle and very, very rewarding that it worked out OK."

But he said he would have thought twice about attempting the same move with a less experienced driver.

"It takes two guys doing a good job to get all that right obviously, so it's more rewarding when you can do it with someone like Fernando because he's a world-class driver and he knows when enough is enough," Webber added. "Obviously my attitude might have been a bit different with someone else, let's say, but in the end, it worked out for me today but in Monza, maybe it's his turn to do it to me.

"I was breathing in at the bottom, I got in and I looked in the mirror at the top and I saw he was still in… well, he had no choice, obviously in the end he had to… one of us had to lift and I had a slightly better line and it was him who had to lift."

Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)