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Hard to gain satisfaction from F1 in 2013 - Webber

Mark Webber: "It's hard to put your finger on the satisfaction side of it now" © Sutton Images

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• Mark Webber

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Mark Webber finds it difficult to extract any satisfaction out of driving on the current specification of Pirelli tyres.

High levels of degradation this year means drivers are often told to drive below the car's potential in order to limit the number of pit stops. The style of racing has led to increased levels of overtaking and more variety in results, but Webber says it is hard to derive satisfaction from it.

"It is very, very strategic with messages from the pit wall saying 'This is where the tyres are, this is what we are probably capable of doing so can you get us there, please. That is your job, can you please get us to that lap', instead of more pushing the boundaries and having a crack," he said. "You still see the drivers racing like Lewis and I did with three or four laps to go in Bahrain, but we wouldn't race like that on lap seven. You would just be cutting your own wrists and killing the tyres, the stint range and all sorts of stuff. But when you've got two or three laps to go that's not an issue.

"So it is a very different type of racing, no question about it. You still have some nice moments in the car but it's hard to put your finger on the satisfaction side of it now."

Webber said the older drivers in the paddock have had to adapt to a number of changes down the years but that the current tyres, especially at the last race in Monaco, have resulted in one of the largest changes in how a driver approaches racing.

"As a group, the guys who are north of 100 GPs have seen a different make-up of how the grands prix are run these days," he said. "Yes, it's in our skill set to have to deal with these challenges, as we always have whether it be with V8s, V10s, refuelling, one-lap qualifying ... I've seen most of the scenarios we've had to play with and it's important for the driver to deal with that.

"But we saw in Monaco that I started to look after my first set of tyres when we got to turn three and Nico was doing that as well. It is different and Monaco was quite an extreme case with certain lap times around GP2 pace. So that's getting quite extreme, you would probably say."

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