Webber suffers catalogue of woes

Mark Webber’s nightmare Japanese Grand Prix weekend got no better on race day as a catalogue of misfortunes left him two laps behind his victorious Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel at the finish.

After a practice crash necessitated a chassis rebuild, Webber started the race from the pit lane and immediately suffered further setbacks that put paid to any chance of a decent result.

He pitted three times in the first four laps, the first two to secure a loose cockpit surround and the third to replace a punctured tyre – turning the rest of the race into little more than a test session.

“I had to make two pit stops on the first two laps, so it was all over from there,” said Webber.

“On the first lap, the headrest came loose in the car, so I had to come in and get that fixed.


“I went back out, but the same thing happened so I had to come in again in order for the guys to tape it down.

“We tested some things today, and tried some other items for future races.

“That's all we could really do from there.”

Webber showed what might have been by setting the race’s fastest lap while running in experimental mode in the final stint.

Team boss Christian Horner sympathised with the Australian’s predicament.

“For Mark, this was the weekend from hell – with a chassis change overnight, then issues on the first lap with a headrest that had somehow come loose and then a puncture,” he said.

“After that the race was little more than a test, but it's encouraging that right at the end he got the fastest lap time as a small consolation