Mark Webber admits Red Bull Racing have gone in the wrong direction with the development of the car after a disastrous outing at Valencia.
The Aussie, along with team-mate David Coulthard, both struggled with the handling and balance of the RB4 around the new street circuit, and wound up a disappointing fourteenth and seventeenth respectively.
Only a couple of races ago at Silverstone Webber was lining up on the front row of the grid having strung a sensational lap together in front of the British crowd.
But the Red Bull ace admits that the team will have to seriously think about their strategic direction after their performance.
“The new venue has been very tough for us from the start,” he said.
“Both David and I haven’t been particularly competitive at any point over the weekend. We are struggling to find the right amount of grip in the car and that’s reflected in our lap times to the opposition.
“Unfortunately qualifying in the top six just four or five races ago is a distant memory now and we have to work out where our pace has gone.”
Team-mate David Coulthard fared even worse and will start in 17th position after being knocked out in the first round of qualifying.
“A very disappointing qualifying,” confessed Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner. “We seem to have struggled for pace here all weekend despite having been very fast in the last sector and it’s frustrating for the drivers to finish in 14th and 17th.”
“An incident filled race is the only way we’re likely to achieve any points this weekend, so we’ll wait and see. Congratulations to Toro Rosso who got both their cars into the top ten for the first time.”
“A bad day and a bad result,” echoed Renault chief Fabrice Lom. “It was bad beginning to the week with the plane crash in Madrid and the death of Dino Toso, chief aerodynamicist for Renault, which puts things in perspective.”
“But, life goes on and coming back to our present work, we have to work like hell now to bounce back from here. We already need to be thinking about the next race in Spa.”
