• British Grand Prix - FP2

Webber suspects rivals are 'sandbagging'

Mark Webber set the fastest time on Friday before an electrical problem © Getty Images

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• Report:
• Webber maintains Red Bull form
  

• Race:
• British Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Sebastian Vettel
• |
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Mark Webber believes some of his competitors may have been "sandbagging" during practice for the British Grand Prix and expects a close fight for pole position on Saturday.

Webber topped the times on Friday, finishing the session nearly 0.4 seconds up on his closest rival Fernando Alonso. He held onto the top spot despite being ruled out of the final part of the running with a reliability issue, but is not expecting qualifying to be quite so easy.

"A pretty good day apart from the electrical problem at the end, which was a shame - we lost a few laps," he said. "The car seems to be going pretty well here otherwise - I think a few of the other teams were sandbagging a bit, but we're happy with our programme and looking forward to qualifying. The new section of the track is pretty difficult, but they got it right I think - it's a good challenge for the drivers."

His team-mate Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the morning session and finished the afternoon running in third. He had to return to the pits at one stage after a high-speed spin at Stowe corner.

"The sessions were okay today - in the afternoon I had a bit of a spin and flat-spotted a set of hard tyres," he said. "We also had a problem with the brake pedal, but nothing big. The pace of the car was good. The new section of the track is quite low speed, but it's not as slow as we expected and doesn't kill the rhythm. It adds something new and makes if more of a challenge. The track here is magnificent; it's good fun, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.