F1 News
Date:
12/October/2013
Mark Webber took the first pole position of his final F1
season after capitalising on a KERS issue for dominant team-mate Sebastian
Vettel at Suzuka, Japan.
Webber claimed only the twelfth pole of his career by 0.174s
from Vettel for an all-Red Bull front row.
“Sebastian had a problem in qualifying, so a little bit of a
hollow pole position if you like, because he still did a phenomenal lap, but
I’m happy to be on pole,” said non-nonsense Australian Webber.
“You’ve got to grab the opportunities when you can and still
put the laps in.
“We did the laps when it counted and that’s what was
important. Very, very nice farewell for me to have pole here on my last attempt
at Suzuka - a really phenomenal circuit.”
Vettel explained his technical problems as follows:
“We decided to change the batteries on the car because we
had an issue with KERS. Unfortunately we had the same problem in qualifying -
so I think we have a little bit more time after qualifying now to have a look
and see whether there’s something else broken or damaged.
“The whole team was pushing very hard. Obviously my car crew
but also Mark’s car crew helped out to fix the car in time and get it out for
qualifying – so we tried everything. It worked sometimes and as I said I’m sure
we’ll find the problem tonight and hopefully it works tomorrow.”
Vettel has the first chance to claim his fourth successive
F1 title if he wins on Sunday, raising the issue of team orders. Webber
insisted he won’t be pulling over.
“Seb’s had a phenomenal year. He will do his race tomorrow, I
will do my race,” he declared.
“It’s not like it’s the last race of the championship.
"Normally you talk about these things and they never
happen but in general, yeah, we’ll be there for ourselves tomorrow.”
Vettel’s fading title rival Fernando Alonso qualified just
eighth for Ferrari. Vettel has a 77 point lead over Alonso, which he needs to
raise to 100 on Sunday to be crowned with a further four rounds to go.
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