Mark Webber is quietly confident that Red Bull head into their constructors’ title defence in good shape after his final test day in the car in Barcelona. The Australian could only put in 59 laps today but looking back on the winter programme as a whole, he feels the team have achieved most of the objectives they set themselves.
“I would obviously have liked to get a few laps in today, but that’s the way it goes sometimes in testing. We had a few small issues with the car today which delayed us a couple of times and while it wasn’t ideal I think we still learned plenty.”
“In terms of the overall feeling at the end of my spell of testing, I think we’ve done well and we have made a step forward. As I’ve said before it’s very difficult to see a real pecking order. We’ve just always been focused on what we have to do and not really looked too hard at anyone else. The important thing now is just to get out to Melbourne and get on with the racing. We have some work to do, for sure, and we have a few things we need to iron out, but that’s the same for everybody.”
With the Australian Grand Prix now a fortnight away, Webber is still unsure where Red Bull sit amongst their rivals but expects the early races to be closely fought.
“Looking at the first race, I think it’s going to be a tight grand prix. There are a lot of quick cars out there and hopefully we have one of them. However, Melbourne is a very particular race, with very specific demands, so we’ll treat it as one race, then go to Malaysia and see how things shake up there. The season moves fast and you have to prepare for every race.”
