• Malaysian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Webber praises joint tyre decision

Mark Webber celebrates pole in Malaysia © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Malaysian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Mark Webber said it was a joint decision between him and his race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam to use intermediate tyres in the final session of qualifying, a gamble that saw him take pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The rest of the field elected for the safer full-wet tyres on the rain-soaked track, but Webber's decision proved to be inspired. Q3 had been stopped due to heavy rain and on the restart Webber came out and set a lap a second clear of his nearest competitor.

"Collectively we all made the decision, Ciaron and I, looking at the window," said Webber. "It was starting to spit at the end there but in sections it was definitely the tyre to be on, and in other places I was at risk of throwing it off. I didn't know if I was only guy on inters, so didn't know I was the black sheep of the top ten. In the end we made the decision together and it was about putting it together - a tough one now for everyone."

"It was a very tricky qualifying session for everyone, no question about it," he added. "When you look at amount of standing water in places in Q1 and Q2, trying to get a clear lap was hard. It was a pretty challenging lap for everyone, my quickest lap in Q2 was a three point turn around Pedro [de la Rosa]. I wouldn't throw egg at anyone though, it is so easy to get it wrong and easy to end up massively on the back foot and you can't respond, as you saw with Lewis [Hamilton] and both Ferraris."

He added that his focus is now on Sunday's race after a disappointing start to the season in Bahrain and Australia.

"We know on Sundays we haven't executed the cleanest races this year," he said. "The guys have worked like hell in Milton Keynes and Viry, we are doing our utmost to execute those Sunday afternoons. Tomorrow is a long race, this place can throw up a lot of stuff in the two hour duration. We are not getting ahead of ourselves but we did what we had to do today."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.