Home win eludes Webber again
BY MARTIN BOULTON, MOTOR SPORT
Mark Webber could only equal his best finish on home soil with fifth place in yesterday's Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
The Red Bull driver said it was ''a tough race'' and despite pushing as hard as possible, he could only replicate his fifth placings from 2002 and 2005 as teammate Sebastian Vettel blasted away from the start to a commanding win.
A day after saying he was mystified by the gap in speed between Vettel's car and his own, Webber said ''everyone deserved the result they got today'' and throughout the weekend he lacked the necessary speed.
Webber crossed the finish line almost 40seconds behind Vettel. After crossing the line Webber came to a sudden stop at the exit of pit lane, a puff of smoke coming from his engine as he left the cockpit and walked back to his pit garage.
It was an abrupt end to a weekend that promised so much, but ultimately left the 34-year-old trailing his teammate and reigning world champion by 15 points after one round.
''It was frustrating ... we could have got more out of it today,'' Webber said, adding he'd struggled with tyres. ''There wasn't much else I could do today.''
After starting third on the grid Webber tried to squeeze past Lewis Hamilton, who started from second, but had to settle for a clean run through turn one behind Vettel and the McLaren driver.
Webber was the first driver to enter pit lane for a fresh set of Pirelli tyres on lap 12 and rejoined the race in seventh spot.
He pitted again on lap 27, changing to a soft set of tyres before a third and final pit stop for fresh tyres on lap 42 of the 58-lap race.
His final pit stop proved costly, running wide onto the grass after returning to the track, while Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso pounced and moved ahead of Webber into fourth with the quickest lap of the race at that stage. Alonso held on to fourth spot.
In his 10th home race Webber never threatened to snatch the lead and was left to lament his tyre strategy and lack of speed.
He now has to find almost a second a lap to match the pace of his main rival Vettel.
After the race he confirmed, like Vettel, that he didn't run the Kinetic Energy Recovery System during the race.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner echoed Webber's assessment of the opening race of the season.
''We just struggled with pace with Mark, he struggled all weekend,'' he said. ''He had a bit of a scrappy stop which cost him with Alonso ... we need to look at everything.''
Vettel said getting a fast start was crucial to his victory.
''Being on the clean side I had a very good getaway but I didn't know if it was enough until I saw Lewis and Mark were battling for position,'' he said. ''I was clear from that and then in the first stint I more or less tried to hold the gap.''
Hamilton was astounded to find himself in second spot after an off-season of difficult testing which indicated the McLaren was headed for the middle of the pack.
''Just a week or two ago we were not expecting to be anywhere near the top five,'' Hamilton said.
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Webber deserves a victory in his country
source:
www.canberratimes.com.au link 
