• Bahrain Grand Prix

The tyres 'ran out of puff' - Webber

Mark Webber: "Maybe it looks quite good on TV but we don't have much to fight back with" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Bahrain Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Mark Webber said tyre degradation left him short of pace at the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix after he lost two positions to Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez in the closing stages.

Webber started and finished seventh but was running fifth with two laps remaining. He was among the first drivers to make their first pit and said that early stop put him on the back foot throughout the race with subsequent early stops.

"I think it was all down to the second stint where I was quite short, the range was very poor and also the pace at the end was very poor," he said. "I think I had to pit a bit earlier than I would have liked and then that loaded up those last stints quite long.

"Even though other people pitted a little bit earlier at the end, it wasn't enough for me to get home. I was racing people a little bit as well and it's such a fine line because you if you race people you run out of tyres and if you don't you're letting people through. I nearly got it right one lap before the end and it was a pretty good battle with Lewis. Neither of us had any tyres left and we were both trying to race as best we could."

Webber said the racing might look good on TV but in reality the drivers have little to defend with once the tyres start to go.

"I think maybe it looks quite good on TV but we don't have much to fight back with - that's the thing," he said. "It's good for the neutral at home watching us with DRS and tyres that run out of puff, and it's the same for everybody, but it's just a bit different that's all."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.