Belgian Grand Prix in 90 seconds

By Mark Webber Red Bull F1 driver

Monday was a bad day. They always are after a rough race, and I was a bit low after what happened at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Spa wasn't a weekend where we at Red Bull really expected to come away with one third place - we expected more points than that.

I'm not disappointed at how I drove. I had a sensational first lap in a great car, did all the hard work and got up into a position where I thought there'd definitely be a good chance of points. But my drive-through penalty, which on balance was deserved, made it pretty impossible from that point on. You never get the time back.

But I've moved on now.

Going forward, as you have to in Formula 1, there are so many positive things to look forward to. We know we've got a good car and, with the exception of Valencia, that we have always been towards the front at every circuit we've gone to. There's no reason to suggest that shouldn't continue.

So we're looking forward to focusing on what counts. That's my guys and my team, and just going to the other circuits to get the job done for the rest of the year. The championship race is still on.

It's been ebbing and flowing: I, my team-mate Sebastian Vettel and [Brawn driver] Rubens Barrichello are having difficulty closing that gap down on Brawn's championship leader Jenson Button. We're all having trouble capitalising. Like someone said, it's like there's a big open goal but no one wants to put the ball it the net.

But we've not missed our chance.

There's still a huge amount of points to go and we've seen how wacky and crazy things can be of late. One weekend it's Rubens, then mine, then Seb. We're all over the place. But the guy who's treading water a little of late is Jenson. If one of us can get some momentum and he doesn't, then everything's to play for. But if he get's momentum, then the wind goes out of our sails. It's not rocket science.

Jenson needs to have an 11 point lead at Brazil for it not to go to the wire. And that doesn't look likely at the moment

I'm sure the next two races will be very interesting in terms of where the championship goes.

Monza and Singapore are both pretty slow-speed circuits, in terms of corners. And Monza has its notoriously fast straights - you don't need much driving talent on those.

It's going to come down to how the car is performing through low- and medium-speed corners but, additionally, there's going to be a whole new raft of very different aero packages across the paddock. We'll need to see what people do with their low aero kit for that one race in particular.

When Red Bull gets to Singapore, we'll be better than we were at Valencia. But it's going to be tight. We won't have a Silverstone advantage, but we're going to be in the hunt to pick up some points here and there - and that's what we've got to keep doing until we get to the last race in Abu Dhabi.

I really believe the championship race will go down to the wire. Jenson needs to have an 11 point lead at Brazil for that not to happen. And that doesn't look likely at the moment.

I'm not feeling any pressure. And I think that's been reflected in my driving. I've been happy with the minimal mistakes that have been there. I've been solid on Sunday afternoon all the time and that's helped me to get where I am this year.

People talk about pressure on Jenson, but he hasn't really made many mistakes either. OK Valencia was pretty rough but there were mitigating circumstances at Spa. It was a pretty different and strange Q2 which cost him and then Rubens had to go light to get a half-decent grid position. He then got hit by Grosjean in the first lap and that's what happens when you start back there, you are going to get some carnage.

Brawn as a team have had a little bit of a wobble in the last four races, with the exception of Rubens winning in Valencia. So I don't think its all down to Jenson tightening up. He's been around the block and we've seen him not make many mistakes in the past.

606: DEBATE What do you think of Mark Webber's thoughts following Red Bull's relatively disappointing performance at Spa?...

I'm going to have a bit of a rest now in the aftermath of Spa. I'm off to the San Marino Moto GP at the weekend for Red Bull and am looking forward to that.

Then I'll get ready for Monza. I wish it was this weekend, which is always the case when you've just had a rough grand prix. Two weeks is too long. So I'm already looking forward to the first session at Monza.

Sometimes back-to-back races are good in that respect, and I'm looking forward to a few weeks' time when the Singapore race is swiftly followed by Japan the next Sunday. But it depends on the race and the venue. If we had Bahrain and Turkey back-to-back, that could be tricky! We might not be as keen.

It gets on your nerves sometimes living out of hotels and it's nice to spend a bit of time relaxing at home once in a while. But you're there to do a job. Once you're in the garage with the guys and your helmet on, that's all that matters.

It's hard to explain Force India's pace - they were just quick. Quick in all sessions on Saturday and Sunday, and obviously in the race. End of subject.

Saying that, we saw different types of cars aerodynamically at Spa. I certainly wouldn't attribute the surprising results to any conspiracy with tyres, which some people were suggesting.

Nobody really knows why it was so mixed up and tight in the remarkable third qualifying session on Saturday, which was like a Formula Ford group really. It was certainly interesting, especially for the fans. But of course every team - including ourselves, Ferrari and Brawn, etc - wants to try and make it more boring. But that wasn't the case - it's really competitive out there.

Highlights - Belgian Grand Prix

We've seen some different results with the long straights at Valencia and Spa, where the Kers cars have become involved. And there's a few straight races, such as Monza and Singapore, before we finish the season. The surprise at Spa was BMW, and a little bit Toyota. Yet it seems to be quite hard for both teams to execute a normal Sunday race plan with both cars, so BMW did a pretty good job in Belgium and probably won't be too far away at Monza. But with the exception of Force India, there are no massive surprises in terms of going forward from here. The usual suspects will be there.

Though six different drivers have won the last six races, I don't think we'll have too many different winners from here on. The two Red Bulls, the two Brawns, Kimi and Lewis... pretty much all the guys that will win have already ticked the box this year.

One thing I'm not doing now, however, is targeting or focusing on any specific races. We thought we might be able to do that with Spa but obviously Seb and I didn't manage to put it all together. You then might say Suzuka is the next one for us. But, for example, nobody had us down to kill Nurburgring - and we did. So it's very hard to predict these days exactly how the cars are going to go. It's changing from session to session.

Mark Webber was talking to BBC Sport's Chris Whyatt.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version