• Turkish Grand Prix

Webber rues opening stint

ESPNF1 Staff
May 8, 2011 « Start cost me second place - Hamilton | »
Mark Webber spent the first 5 laps of the race stuck behind Nico Rosberg before getting past in to turn 12 © Sutton Images
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Mark Webber said that losing out to Nico Rosberg early in the race compromised his challenge for the race win as he finished second in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Having started second on the dirtier side of the grid, Webber was beaten by Rosberg in to the first corner off the line. Rosberg didn't have the pace to challenge race leader Sebastian Vettel, however, the championship leader was able to pull out a gap at the front. Webber said his poor start wasn't a surprise, but that it put him on the defensive.

"It was eventful wasn't it? I think the start wasn't that easy out of that side of the grid which we probably expected a little bit but that wasn't the end of the world as we've seen from the last race starting 18th it doesn't really matter if you 're in the dirty side or whatever even if you're at the front. So I spent a few laps trying to clear Nico [Rosberg] which is never ideal obviously then Seb got a bit of a gap and I was then a little bit on the back foot from there.

Obviously clearing Nico then the the guys pitted me probably a bit earlier than I expected because I knew that the undercuts were coming in to play and clearly there was a gap for us to come in to. So that's the way it went and that was really when we made our bed in terms of our strategy from then on."

Webber praised Fernando Alonso, with who he had a race long battle for 2nd place before finally securing the position in the final stint as he finished the race on fresher tyres.

"Then the fight with Fernando in the middle of the race was a little bit unexpected, I think he drove fantastic today and it was a good fight for both of us. Obviously we used the DRS to get the moves done so that was part of it but I think the tyres play a huge role in the end there, so I in the end I had a fresher set of tyres from qualifying, got the job done on Fernando and then that was it really. But congratulations to Seb, another victory, he's on a roll obviously but this was the maximum I could get today."

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