• Hungarian Grand Prix

Strategy paid off - Webber

ESPN Staff
July 28, 2013 « Alonso escapes penalty over DRS | Grosjean did not deserve penalty - Massa »
Mark Webber was the highest place driver to start on medium tyres © Getty Images
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Mark Webber said fourth place at the Hungarian Grand Prix was the best he could hope for after starting tenth on the grid.

Webber had a KERS and gearbox glitch in qualifying and opted not to set a time in Q3 to allow himself a free choice of tyre compound for the start of the race. The strategy paid off, moving him up to second before his final pit stop for soft tyres 10 laps from the end, which dropped him to fourth.

"I think we had the right strategy," he said. "There was a lot of pressure on the first lap to be the leading guy on the prime [medium compound tyre]. The start was okay and the first sector was very good. Then we just settled in, I had a pretty tricky car in the first three or four laps and then we just got our head down.

"We could have had a little bit more, but not a huge amount more. The strategy was pretty solid. I didn't make many mistakes and I tried to stay out as long as I could. We also had to be careful on the options at the end because it would have been very easy for them to lose a lot performance on a ten lap stint. I pushed pretty hard but not enough to get a podium."

However, Webber said he saw no advantage to not setting a lap in Q3 in the future.

"I'd always prefer to do a lap in Q3 and start from the front. All the guys on the podium started on options."

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