• Second Barcelona Test, Day One

'We're not on our own out front' - Webber

Mark Webber was over 1.6s clear of the rest of the field on Thursday © Sutton Images

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• Report:
• Webber tops rain-affected day
  

• Drivers:
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Mark Webber says Red Bull will not be quicker than the rest of the field at the start of the season in Melbourne.

Despite a first day of the final test in Melbourne that was heavily affected by rain, Webber set the pace on soft tyres late in the afternoon to top the times by over 1.6s. However, he said that the team had also been analysing what the rest of the teams are doing and that it was clear Red Bull has competition at the front of the field.

"We've seen some very quick lap times from other cars so we've got work to do," Webber said. "We're working as hard as we can; we know there's some very, very strong teams out there. We focus as much as we can on ourselves but you want to also understand sometimes what the other guys are doing and have a little look at where you might compare. In general we know there's some fast cars out there and we're not on our own, that's for sure, out front.

"Of course [Red Bull won't be well clear at the first race], that hasn't happened for a long time. In the last few years once the season gets going we have a bit of a trend; i.e. when we get going some of the bigger and more organised teams eventually the arm wrestle gets in your favour. But at the start of the season it's anyone's game and there's a lot of strong cars that will start the season well."

Webber also hinted that his headline lap time was set with lower fuel due to the conditions.

"It was tricky enough as it was on the greasy conditions all day. We got one hour at the end on half sensible conditions so obviously we had a look at three different compounds and got a little bit more testing done. The thing is when it's like that you're either doing longish runs or you're doing some shorter runs to have a look at some performance, let's say. We opted to throw on a few sets of tyres at the end to see how the car went and that went OK. We've still got work to do where that was the most we would get out of the short, limited programme at the end in dry conditions."

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