- United States Grand Prix - Red Bull
Missing pole cost shot at victory - Webber
Mark Webber said his qualifying performance cost him a chance of victory at the US Grand Prix after he spent most of the race trying, and failing, to pass Romain Grosjean for second.
Webber, who has just one more race left before he retires from F1, looked set for pole position on Saturday but made a mistake in the final two corners and lost out by a tenth of a second to team-mate Sebastian Vettel. That meant he was starting on the dirty side of the grid, and despite a decent getaway he dropped to fourth at the first corner.
"Pole position was very important yesterday and I know it cost me a better result today," he said. "A little bit disappointed not to qualify better because we knew it was going to be difficult from there [in second]. We had a good launch but obviously we all wanted to be on the outside and I got a little bit boxed in and then I had to pass Lewis [Hamilton]."
Once he had passed Hamilton he closed in on Grosjean, but despite looking a lot quicker than the Lotus he failed to make a move stick. He said Grosjean was quick in all the right places and that he was hitting the rev limiter when he had the DRS open on the back straight.
"It was not easy to pass Romain, he drove very well and he was very clean on the exit of Turns 8 and 9," Webber said. "The DRS in the end was a little bit short on [gear] ratios, but that's how you get the ratios right for the whole race. Good job for the whole team and I'm happy to finish on the podium for the last time in the US in Formula One."
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