by www.redbullracing.com, Nov 13, 2011
The race in Abu Dhabi wasn't our strongest but we'll undoubtedly learn some valuable lessons from it in time for Brazil and we haven't lost sight of the record achieved during yesterday's qualifying.
Today marked a tough race for Red Bull Racing. Sebastian went out within seconds of starting and Mark finished 4th, in spite of a performance that looked set to warrant a podium finish during many laps at the Yas Marina circuit.
It's worth remembering though that this is Sebastian's first DNF of the season and it's the only time we've not had a podium finish since the Korean GP last year.
It was a puncture that caused him to lose the track just seconds after starting and he had been leading the race until that point.
He said of the incident: “On the exit of the first corner, everything seemed fine and then turning into the second corner I could feel that something was odd on the rear right. I had to catch the car surprisingly and then the second time, I couldn’t do it anymore, as I’d lost too much air in the rear right tyre. I had a puncture and spun off."
Mark started the race 4th on the grid and retained this position for the finish but drove determinedly throughout which is what made a podium finish seem possible throughout many laps of the competition.
The Aussie said of his drive: "We had a bad first pit stop, so we lost a lot of time with that. It put us on the back foot. I got the car back onto the leaders, but we were out of position by then.”
Lewis Hamilton won today's race and Alonso and Button filled the finishing positions between him and Mark.
Christian said of Mark's fourth position: "For Mark, he was in a close scrap with Jenson. On the first pit stop we had a wheel nut issue and thereafter it dropped him behind Felipe Massa, so at that point we opted for a different strategic route and a three stop race, which was the only opportunity to take on and beat Massa and to have a go at Jenson. Unfortunately there just weren’t enough laps to pull out a big enough gap, but it was worth a go and Mark drove well."
And of Sebastian's DNF he said:" At a track that’s been so good to us for the last two years, it’s frustrating to have our first DNF of the year due to a tyre issue. Congratulations to Lewis on a strong drive today.”
So all in all it wasn't the best race for us today but we keep in mind that Vettel still managed to break another record during qualifying yesterday and Mark drove a great race. We'll aim to learn a great deal from today ahead of the season finale in Brazil at the end of the month.
Some of the team will be extending their stay after today's third grand prix in Abu Dhabi to set-up and stage the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test with Red Bull Junior driver Jean-Eric driving for Red Bull Racing. Stay tuned on all the usual channels for information on the test.
Credit: Red Bull Racing Formula one Team (www.redbullracing.com)
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