Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are both worried that their victory chances in Malaysia could be derailed by an inability to look after the tyres. The RB9 continued to be fast on a single lap, Webber topping FP1 and Vettel finishing second to Kimi Raikkonen in FP2, but Vettel admitted the Pirellis were not lasting as long as he would like in race trim.
“I think it was unusual today as in the second session one part of the track was pretty wet and the other was dry – but it all dried out quite fast, as it was so hot. This afternoon we couldn’t do so much due to the weather, but this morning it looked okay, although the tyres don’t last very long! We need to try a couple of things now overnight to improve and take a step forwards.”
Webber shared the view of his teammate and feels the world champions have plenty to work on before they can think about winning Sunday’s race.
“It was a pretty smooth run for us today, but we need to improve and keep finding pace. The slicks were not too bad in those conditions and the crossover point looks quite interesting. The tyres are still the most important thing at the moment – it’s all about those! It’s pretty warm in the car, but if I’m warm, then so is everyone else and in general it’s not as bad as previous years.”
