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Webber hopes for Melbourne rain

Mark Webber wants the Melbourne weather to spice up proceedings © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Australian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Mark Webber is hoping that the notoriously fickle Melbourne weather will provide the best chance of spicing up proceedings for the Australian Grand Prix.

Webber labelled the season opener in Bahrain as "boring" after the new regulations which prevent in-race refueling resulted in a lack of overtaking.

The Australian admitted the best chance of having an interesting race in Melbourne next week is if rain plays a factor.

"Bahrain is normally a very good track for racing and didn't turn out as good as we would have liked, but hopefully there's a nice surprise in Melbourne," said Webber in Melbourne. "We know the weather here can be very changeable, so lots of things can change very quickly."

Despite Ferrari's dominant start to the season, Webber remains confident that Red Bull can close the gap sooner rather than later.

"The bar was lifted very high last year and we know this year is another great opportunity for us. Ferrari just bashed out a one-two in Bahrain, which is very impressive from them, but no one is in a position to talk about championships, it's such early days. We'll find out in August who'll be doing what later in the championship."

Webber, who won in Germany and Brazil last year, is also of the opinion that the new regulations will put more pressure on the pit crew to get the only pit stop absolutely right.

"We learnt a lot last weekend with totally new regulations again," added Webber. "The team is performing very well; it's exciting. It makes it crucial for engineers and mechanics to get that first stop right and where we place that stop, but after that it's the quickest way for us to do the races.

"The fuelling thing is not such a big deal. The cars are so quick and that's what we like [and] the spectators love, but trying to get the balance of good racing is always difficult."