Australian Mark Webber has celebrated his contract extension with Red Bull Racing by setting the second fastest time in final qualifying at the 2008 British Grand Prix. Webber lapped the Silverstone circuit in 1:21.554, but was no match for McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen who blitzed the field winning his maiden pole position with a time of 1:21.049. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen qualified in third (1:21.706), ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (1:21.835) and BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld (1:21.873).
In the post qualifying interview Webber acknowledged Red Bull Racing, “It’s a credit to the team, they’ve worked hard. We’re based just down the road so it’s like a home Grand Prix for us.” This will be the first time since 2006 that Webber has started a Grand Prix on the front row—the first time for Red Bull Racing—and he knows the serious work lays ahead, “Only five per cent of the job is done, it could be wet, so there’s a long way to go.” The Australian’s Red Bull has been at the pointy end of the field all weekend and this was also the case in the third qualifying session, despite the blustery conditions making it difficult for all drivers, “I felt comfortable in the car and in my second run I got a lot better lap, Heikki got the pole and I’m happy for him.” News of Webber’s second qualifying position will no doubt create a lot of enthusiasm down under and he is raring to go, “I can’t wait for tomorrow, I wish the race started now!”
Webber has had a lot of success at Silverstone with good results in Formula Ford and Formula 3000. Let’s hope this trend continues with a trouble free run in tomorrow’s race.
5 replies on “Mark Webber on front row for British Grand Prix”
Amazing performance from Webber, out-performing both works Renaults. Shows what a good job Mark and the team are doing.
All my fingers and toes are crossed for him tomorrow!
Poor guy, he has had a string of pretty bad luck recently. Although his driving (even though he was running light) later in the race was very aggressive and great to watch!
From Canberra to Queanbeyan in the blink of an eye. 😛
After his spin, he drove quite well. A real shame he couldn’t finish in the points.
[…] is clearly a place where Webber loves to race, following his famous win last year and at the 2008 British Grand Prix he found himself on the front row for the first […]