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F1: Webber Boosts Red Bull with Third
Written by: Adam Cooper   http://www.speedtv.com
07/21/2007
Eifel, Germany
 
It was an encouraging race for Red Bull, and for Mark Webber in particular. (LAT photo) » More Photos


Mark Webber scored only the second podium finish of his F1 career when he brought his Red Bull safely home in Germany.

The Australian previously finished third at Monaco in 2005, but lost out to teammate Nick Heidfeld and was more frustrated than happy with the outcome.

The Aussie earned this result on merit, with Kimi Raikkonen's retirement the only real bonus he received. Teammate David Coulthard added to the joy with fifth place as the team moved above Toyota in the championship.

"It's a podium I can enjoy as well," he said. "It was a special day for us, no question about it. The start was not good at all. I had a huge amount of clutch slip, so I was on the back foot going into turn one and then I saw, in turn two, the BMWs which got together, and then the rain was already starting pretty quickly which was absolutely phenomenal.

"I didn't expect it to come that quick, because we thought it would come at least five or six laps into the race. It was there straight away. Then we obviously had to make some decisions, which wasn't too difficult at the start, to go to intermediates but then the aquaplaning that we had in second or third gear on the run down to turn five and in some other sections… it was just a sheet of water on the track.

"The FIA did a good job to put the safety car out to try to control and then suspend the race which was sensible. And then after that, we obviously went onto intermediates and then grooves and then we did a really really long stint on the grooves and I struggled a little bit in the middle stint with the rears, but then I was obviously going a lot longer than Heikki and Alex and those guys. That was when I did the damage in terms of securing what was then going to be a podium, when I saw Kimi retire, which I must say I wasn't that disappointed about."

Webber admitted he was more than a little concerned
when he nearly lost out to Alex Wurz through the last two corners.

"I thought, 'My God, we've got it all in the bank, it's all fine, let's maybe start to wind the engine down and look after a few things,' and then I saw the rain coming towards us and I thought, 'Oh my God, they're not going to give it to us easy.' It's interesting to hear Felipe's comments in terms of the [tire] vibrations, because the vibrations that I had on the last set were massive. I think it's not unusual for us to get this on intermediates. I was much happier if it stayed a bit dry towards the end of the race, given what was at stake.

"Alex was pretty close at the end but Red Bull deserve… these guys have been through a torrid start to the season, no question about it, and both cars in the points today – David in fifth – the whole team deserve it.

"You can say what you want, you can say it's improving, you can say this but we continue each week to come back with the same old broken record stuff but results are what count and today we've got a few points on the board, albeit due to a little bit of attrition but at the end of the day, it's a 300km race and we were there at the end and it was really for the team today that we got the points."



Get the inside story of the people, science and history of Formula 1 each month in RACER. On the 40th anniversary of the Cosworth DFV's introduction, we chart the record and influence of the great V8 in our August issue, on sale now.



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