Mark Webber is under no illusions that Red Bull must improve its one-lap pace if it’s to continue to build on its 2012 title ambitions.
The team which dominated pole position last year has struggled to do the same this season, with just three poles for Sebastian Vettel and a gifted pole for Mark Webber in Monaco after Michael Schumacher was demoted.
However their results have steadily declined with both cars struggling to make Q3 in the last two races, which Webber says is damaging their hopes of victory.
“In general we’ve been seventh with me in Spa and sixth [fastest] for Seb here is the maximum that the car can do on Saturday,” said Webber. “We need to improve qualifying, we know that.
“Everybody is asking: what is the problem? Well, if we knew what the problem was we would fix it.”
Whilst the RB8 may be poor on Saturday, its race pace has proven to be one of the strongest allowing the team to play catch-up, but Webber says whilst that allows a good recovery, it isn’t winning them races.
“Last year, and in the previous years, it was a big part of our armoury and, at the moment, we need to improve on it clearly because there is no point us having strong Sundays when we are always recovering.
“We know that as a team. We are working hard and we are still going very, very well in both championships. But we know we have got work to do. That’s what we have got to do.”
