• Canadian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Webber believes Mercedes was hiding pace

Mark Webber qualified in fifth place alongside Fernando Alonso © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Canadian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Mark Webber expects Mercedes was hiding its long run pace during practice on Friday and will be quick in tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix.

Having qualified behind both Mercedes for the race, Webber was asked if he could be held up by either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg managing their pace as they did in Monaco. However, while Webber said it would be easier to overtake in Monaco he also feels Mercedes has more pace in hand than it was letting on during Friday practice.

"I think that if people have to target a pace … I don't think here it is really an option," Webber said. "I think if Merc are quick they'll be going with the pace in the dry, if they're not as strong we'll want to take care of them pretty quickly. So we'll only know that once we get going, probably lap two or three.

"They were certainly managing their pace heavily at the start of their stints but at the end they weren't too slow. It's always hard to know, I'm sure they were very heavy on fuel but we weren't light either."

Reflecting on his qualifying session, Webber said he was caught out by the late rain as he expected the circuit to get quicker throughout Q3.

"I wouldn't say a complete lottery like pulling numbers out of a hat but you still need to do the time. It certainly mixed it up; I don't think a lot of us envisaged that the first lap was probably going to be the best lap but that's the way it turned out. Bloody first time I dropped the car in Turn 3 all weekend, lost the rear there just across the grass but I wasn't worried. I thought 'OK it's going to be happening in the back part of the session when the track's at its driest' and then it f***ing rained!

"So it was a tricky session for all of us and also the venue's tricky to handle when it's like that. It's a very tough little pokey venue, big stops, braking, when it's drizzling on the visor up and down. It's different in the race when the rhythm is a bit more constant but in qualy when you've got six or seven second swings and you've got to try and stay on the limit a lot of people can make mistakes; that's what qualy can do."

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