It was a mixed day for Red Bull in Friday practice for the weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. Mark Webber finished third in a rain-hit afternoon session, while teammate Sebastian Vettel drifted off the track and languished sixteenth fastest.
Mark Webber, on his home track, was reasonably upbeat about his day’s work. “It wasn't too bad today. Everyone's programmes were disrupted in P2 with the intermittent weather. It's pretty much the team's worst nightmare when the weather's just on the edge like that; you can't commit to learning too much in the wet and it's quite tricky in the dry as well. We had a couple of windows where we got some information though, so we have good data to go through tonight.”
Sebastian Vettel thinks that it will be another close weekend between the top teams, and that Webber’s performance in FP2 shows that Red Bull will be on the pace again in Melbourne. “I had a drift off track at the end of the second session; obviously it wasn't ideal, but it happens – that's what practice is for. It was my mistake; I was a bit too far to the left when hitting the brakes. It meant I missed the most important time on the track at the end of P2, but the car feels good and Mark showed that we are right there. It looks very close between the top cars.”
