Belgian GP: Mark Webber had problems with practice starts

Mark Webber

Mark Webber has revealed that he had problems with practice starts before the race.

Those problems continued in the race and Webber slipped from third to sixth place by the end of lap 1. The Australian eventually finished in fifth place despite closing on the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at the end of the race.

“The two practice starts before the race weren’t great and so we were a bit worried about the clutch going to the start, which put us on to the back foot. We tried our best, but lost a couple of rows off the line which is not good.” Webber said after the race.

“We then had to try and clear people on the track, which was difficult, as we had set up the top gear to race in clean air, rather than to pass. The bad start put us out of position and it snowballs from there, as you use up the tyres trying to get back into position.” he added.

Team principal Christian Horner explained how Webber lost places throughout lap 1 thanks to the clutch issue.

“For Mark, his clutch wasn’t good in preparation going to the grid. We did our best to tidy it up but he conceded a place to Rosberg off the start. Once he was comprised in his positioning within the pack, he wasn’t able to get a clean run through La Source and Alonso managed to get a run on him down the hill and pass him into Eau Rouge.”

“Thereafter it was a matter of trying to find a way through, past the Mercedes and Ferrari ahead, but unfortunately whenever we got close enough we seemed to lose aero performance and so Mark couldn’t get close enough to make a move. We didn’t come here expecting to win today, so it’s great to get a victory to start the second half of the season”

Clutch issues are nothing new with Webber and the Australian has encountered a number of clutch issues throughout his career.

by Rachit Thukral