Mark Webber continues to be surprised by his result in qualifying for the British Grand Prix, but insists that he can be a factor for points even if the podium eventually eludes him.
The Australian underlined the fact that the
Red Bull Racing team had been quick throughout the build-up to qualifying, but admitted that he had not expected to wind up on the front row, where he will join first time polesitter
Heikki Kovalainen.
"It is a bit of a surprise, actually," Webber commented, "We have been pretty strong most of the weekend, but we didn't realise how strong, I suppose, until we got into Q2. My 19.7 was pretty competitive but, obviously, these guys have a different strategy compared to us - especially in Q2.
"In relation to the rest of the guys we are normally competing against, we looked to have a nice margin over them, although obviously Fernando is still there and some of the other guys. It is a credit to the team, they have worked so hard over the last few weeks - like all the teams have - but this is only five per cent of the job done. We have got to race tomorrow and it could be wet as well, so there is a long way to go."
Webber admitted that he had feared that he would be starting towards the bottom of the top ten after finding his RB4 not to his liking at the start of Q3.
"I felt very comfortable in the car and could push it to the limit but, in the last part of qualifying, with the fuel in, I thought the guys must have put
double the fuel in because the car was all over the place," he explained, "Then I saw people on the big screen, running wide, and obviously everybody was having trouble on that first run. On the second run, I got a lot better lap. My engineer told me I was P1 at Becketts, but I knew that wasn't going to continue. Heikki got the pole and I am happy for him, but we got second, and I was surprised that we hung in there.
