Formula One news

Webber worried by puncture threat

Mark Webber has admitted that he thought he was victim of a puncture at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as his Red Bull's left-rear wheel was clipped by the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello at the first corner. With no such happening becoming a reality, the Australian successfully defended second place from the World Champion in the season's final stages.

After starting third on the grid, Webber did not lose positions at the start, despite the touch from Barrichello. "Second place was as good as I was going to get today," Australian Mark admitted in the post-race press conference. "From the start, we had a pretty good launch - I had a look on the outside of Sebastian (Vettel) but the main aim was to get inside and get a good exit.

"I then got hit quite hard and was worried that I had a puncture but team told me that the pressures were okay."

With Button proving a massive threat in the last handful of laps, Webber was able to fend off the Brawn man to eventually finish less than a second ahead. "We had a bit of a short fill so JB got to do some good laps on the overfill," the Queanbeyan driver continued. "I thought it would be quite tight in the end and it's pretty dusty off-line - I got a bit hoppy on one of the last laps but knew he wasn't going to do much elsewhere. Jenson's overtaking has been good this year so I knew I had to be pretty good."

Mark added that he expects Red Bull to be challenging for leading positions immediately next year.

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