• Chinese Grand Prix - FP2

Webber brushes off Vettel's jibe

ESPN Staff
April 12, 2013 « Gap 'bigger than I'd like' - Vettel | Mercedes in the mix - Hamilton »
Mark Webber: "I'm not too bothered what he says" © Sutton Images
Enlarge

Mark Webber insists he is not interested in what Sebastian Vettel has to say following the pair's spat at the Malaysian Grand Prix and is instead focusing on Red Bull's struggles to get its tyres to last.

The main focus of Thursday's press briefings was the rift between Webber and Vettel, with Vettel creating headlines when he admitted his decision to defy team orders in Malaysia was a form of payback after the pair's previous clashes. Webber had spoken earlier on Thursday, but when asked to respond to Vettel's comments on Friday he gave a short answer before talking directly about how his practice sessions had gone.

"I'm not too bothered what he says," Webber said, adding: "Today was a good day for us, we had a good amount of mileage for one thing. There are some quick cars out there, nothing unusual there from what we've seen already in the championship.

"We saw that in Malaysia in qualifying before it rained - there were some pretty quick cars out there over one lap. We are getting some good information still in this early phase of learning the tyres. We have a little bit of work to do and we need to keep working on understanding the tyres."

Asked if the tyres were a concern, Webber said Red Bull could take some confidence from the fact its rivals are also struggling.

"As long as we're in a similar boat we're all right," he added. "If you are on your won with certain problems then you get a bit more concerned, but we're not the only team. Trying to make that tyre work is not easy so we'll try to make the tyre work so we'll look at the information tonight and how we will tackle the race in that case."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close