Australian thrown out of qualifying and will start from last place
Sunday 14 April 2013 06:36, UK
Mark Webber's frustrating Saturday at the Chinese GP has been compounded by his exclusion from qualifying and demotion to the back of grid for Sunday's race.
Webber had arrived in China as a man in the spotlight due to the events of Sepang and the explosive fallout which has spilled over into the Shanghai weekend. The timing of the incident was therefore particularly unfortunate for both team and driver, but Ted insisted any conspiracy theories doing the rounds were the stuff of fantasy. "I know a lot of conspiracy theorists will say this is very convenient for Red Bull, with a piece of equipment that is under their control and it only happens to Mark Webber's car and that means he is out of the way of Sebastian Vettel," the <>Sky Sports F1 expert continued. "I think it is ridiculous to suggest that Red Bull would compromise their own car by not putting enough fuel in there, but what it does do is take some of the heat out of the situation between Vettel and Webber this weekend. "They pretty much can't stand the sight of each other at the moment and it what means is that Red Bull can guarantee, pretty much, that they won't be racing on track, so the Red Bull management on the pitwall will not have to manage them on track. So there might be one rye thought in the back of Christian Horner's mind that that is one less problem that he has to manage. "It is a big mistake for them to get an operational procedure like a fuel rig to fail." Speaking to Sky Sports F1 prior to the issuing of the penalty, Red Bull chief Christian Horner, whose team experienced the same penalty with Sebastian Vettel in Abu Dhabi last season, insisted it was simply one of those things. "It's annoying more than anything, but we'll deal with it," he insisted. "To be honest we're just focused on this event so our objective is to get both drivers right there. It's disappointing to have an issue, but these things happen, we've seen it with other teams as well. But the most important thing is to understand what has happened." Furthermore, he raised the prospect of a Webber comeback in the race by pointing to his Shanghai drive from two years ago, when the Australian stormed from 18th to third on a reverse tyre strategy. "The good thing about the race here is that, particularly with the strategies, it is open and Mark's demonstrated the year before last he can come from a lowly grid position and still be right up there by the end of the race." Ted, meanwhile, added that it was "very likely" Red Bull will repeat what they did with Vettel in Abu Dhabi and pull Webber's car out of parc ferme, and therefore start from the pitlane, so they can make changes to its wing level for the race to give the Australian a better chance of overtaking.
