SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sep 1 AFP – A disappointed Mark Webber will start from 12th on the grid for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, after being given a five-place grid penalty following an enforced gearbox change.
Red Bull’s Webber qualified seventh at the Spa-Circuit but dropped to 12th after the penalty.
Currently sitting second in the driver’s world championship behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Webber was disappointed with the result.
“I think that we would like to have been further up the grid, no question about it,” he said.
“Not quick enough for us to challenge for the front row and that obviously knocks the penalty around a little bit more. I would’ve liked to have been further up to take the sting off the penalty.
“I was pretty happy with my lap. The maximum was P5 if I’d got the very most out of it.
“I had some very good sections on the lap and then some other sections where I would’ve liked to have done a little bit better.
“But I got the most out of what we had and at the moment that’s not enough.”
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel admitted that his Red Bull car was simply not fast enough for him to qualify in the top 10.
The defending double world champion flopped in the Q2 session and wound up 11th and was later fined 10,000 ($A12,200) for practising starts in the pit lane.
The 25-year-old German missed out on a place in the top 10 shootout by 0.012 seconds, but said nothing in particular had been wrong.
“I was pretty happy with my lap, it was just not quick enough unfortunately,” Vettel said.
“I missed the last part of qualifying by such a little amount and that’s a shame, but that’s racing. It’s frustrating but it could be the other way around and you are in and somebody else is out.
“But obviously there are no points today and the race is tomorrow.”
Vettel admitted his disappointing result was a surprise.
“I was quite surprised that this morning it felt pretty alright and this afternoon it just didn’t come together,” Vettel said.
“The lap was clean, there were no mistakes, but it wasn’t quick enough.”
