Tyred out!
Seventh place in the Bahrain Grand Prix gave Mark his 100th points finish in Formula One in his landmark 200th grand prix. It was an incident-filled race that saw Mark start from seventh, following the three-place grid penalty that he’d carried over from China the previous weekend.
“The start of the race went okay,” says Mark. “I made up a place straight away and was looking okay during the opening stint, but my race started to unravel during my second stint. I passed a lot of cars early on in that stint and climbed from 14th to second in the space of 13 laps, but my tyres couldn’t stand the pace and I was forced to pit early. That lengthened my third and fourth stints, which made me very vulnerable in the closing laps.”
One of the key factors in the race was the increase in heat. The lack of cloud cover sent the track temperature soaring to 45 degrees, which was much hotter than it had been during practice or qualifying, and that made a lot of the tyre data from those sessions redundant.
“It was a very tough day for the tyres,” says Mark. “This track is hard on the rear tyres anyway, and the hotter conditions made it even tougher – which was rough for me because I was starting in the pack and capable of lapping quickly on new tyres.
“I paid the price in the second stint because my tyres fell off a cliff and I was forced to pit earlier than planned. Just prior to that happening, I thought I could finish on the podium. But it wasn’t to be, although I had a good dice with Lewis [Hamilton] at the end. It was hard and fair racing. In the end, I had no rear tyres left and had to let him go and then [Sergio] Perez passed me as well.”
Mark was summoned to the stewards after the race to discuss an on-track incident between him and Nico Rosberg. In the end he was issued with a reprimand for causing the slight coming together they’d had.
“We were racing, I was the car in front and I was taking my line,” said Mark. “Roll on the next race in Barcelona. I’ve won at the track before and I’ll be looking to get back onto the podium there.”
// ends
35 Comments
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Olga
on April 22, 2013Спасибо Марк!
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Dina A.
on April 22, 2013Your fight with Lewis was really brave stuff..!!! What a shame you lost 2 positions on the last lap ..anyway this track has never been your favourite one for many reasons…
Yeah, roll on Barcelona for your 201th grand prix ..can’t wait! ..(and looking forward for the 250th) 🙂
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Andrew P
on April 22, 2013So if the heat was the difference why was Vettel able to manage the rear tyre issue and your car didn’t?
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Andrew Dowd
on April 22, 2013I am a big fan of yours Mark but I don’t get why your tyres go and Vettel’s just seem to be fine, in fact his engineer was telling him to slow down even. He’s in the same car right???
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matt
on April 22, 2013Mark great effort on your 100th points finish. one question /point. Seb looked to just push and push on the tyres and they kept giving him time. you looked like you drove to set times as directed by the team. it appeared that if you pushed the tyres you got the same distance as if you hadn’t.
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emily
on April 22, 2013brilliant battle with lewis at the end mark… but yeah, shame about the tyres going off and all….looking foward to the european gps (you need around four or five race wins to get back into contention) so lets go web…. keep boxing, stay on form… we’re with ya all the way mate..
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Chriso from Australia
on April 22, 2013Well done mate,damage limitation I guess,we all knew it would be quite hard to make it onto the podium from where you started due to the excessive tyre wear on this particular circuit. But in saying that a spectacular drive in the early part of the race to climb up to 2nd, your pace was quite good at this point but I knew your tyres were what was going to kill ya. The epic scrap with Lewis towards the end was very entertaining and to people who say you cant pass or make it to easy to overtake,put that in there pipe and smoke it, obviously at that point Lewis’s tyres where in better shape,did well to hold him of as long as you did,impressive as for Perez,wasn’t much you could do there either. All in all a very good race in terms of what had happened and heads held high to catalunya.
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Craig
on April 22, 2013Bad luck with the tyres Mark…if it’s not the car, it’s always seems to be something else at the moment.
I’m so tired of the driver being penalised for things outside their control. Get rid of the Pirellis for something you can count on and not have to tippy toe around in and only penalise drivers themselves for incidents caused by their own actions.
All other penalties should be in the form of fines to the team, not grid place penalties such as happened with Hamilton (great clean fight with him btw) with his gearbox replacement penalty.
Also that was my analysis of your incident with Rosberg the instant after the collision, he was no where near far enough forward to be granted space on the racing line through that corner, as you said – you were racing! 😀
All the best for Barcelona!
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Craig
on April 22, 2013Oh..and congratulations on your 200th GP start and 100th finish in the points! What a day for MW stats! 😀
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Craig Tate
on April 22, 2013Good on ya Mark!
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brad
on April 22, 2013I’m so glad you decided to race the pants off the car like everyone should be doing. You attacked and defended really well. Great to watch, I think you inspired many other drivers to do the same in that race. Hope you enjoyed the racing, I surely did. Tyre strategy?…..just race! I’m with you 100% and many others are getting on board with your views, just all a bit slower sadly!
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jay
on April 22, 2013A mighty effort Mark, which was cursed in the end….what exactly is the difference between your car and the German’s? His car always seems to be faster and last longer on the types and, he always gets off the start quicker. Call me cynical, but I doubt all that is just coincidence… Here’s good hunting and fortune in Barcelona!! HOLA!! OLE!!!! BRAVO (RED)BULLY BOY!!
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NATALIA RINCON
on April 22, 2013I HOPE IN THE PODIUM IN BARCELONA, I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK, DO NOT GIVE UP, YOU HAVE MANY RACES AHEAD. kisses from barcelona.
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Marcus S
on April 22, 2013Really hope you get a pole position, or at least front row and win from there.
Vettel’s performance yesterday is far overrated, he had clear air all the time.
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Agnieszka
on April 22, 2013Mark,
Congrats on the 200th Grand Prix, a massive achievement! And many thanks for another exciting race, always a pleasure to see you race, the fight with Lewis was so exciting! I wonder if anything will be done re the tyres stuff, seems things out of your control get in your way. Looking forward to Spain alreay! All the best from Poland 🙂 -
Marcus S
on April 22, 2013Next up, Spain, Monaco, Canada, Britain & Germany.
You’ve won 4 of those before, let’s do it again. 😉
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Jill and Brian
on April 22, 2013A great fight Mark. All the best for Barcelona, we’ll be there cheering you on. Keep driving hard, good luck mate.
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Wendy
on April 22, 2013Weird race but good to watch You made up so much ground only to lose out. I guess the difference for you was that you were racing all the way unlike your team “mate” who was driving in clear air. Good job Mark The next few races should be better for you so looking forward to seeing you on the podium again – top step preferred! Congrats on the 200th race and 100th points finish. Hope to see many more. Getting used to the hair style – not bad! 🙂
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Niccolò
on April 22, 2013that’s ok mark.. I know that you will get the podium in spain!!
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George
on April 22, 2013A fantastic race Mark, we’ll done. This by far was your best race. If those passing manoeuvres with Hamilton were made from up front of the race then you would have had clean air and taken the race. That driving was amazing mate. Hang in there and take it up to the next race.
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Petra
on April 22, 2013Hi Mark, I saw you on the podium after that quick start and immediately over taking and than soon on 2. , what a brilliant battle. The incident with Nico was unluckily coming up giving you a tough time but still enough laps to go I thought and than this tyre issue, rubber every where I hate those Pirellis from the beginning ! Better luck for Europe, wish I could be there already.
Big hug from China -
Sax
on April 23, 2013Hi mate good driving once more, but there seems to be a difference between the redbull boy’s car and your car. More tricks up Mr H’s sleeve !!!! I don’t get it mate. You do all the ”homework” and somebody else gets the prize. Without you Redbull will be just another team on the grid. Kick them in the butt and show them want you are capable of.
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stu
on April 23, 2013dice will fall your way shortly – keep at it! go webber go!!!
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TRAV
on April 23, 2013go to Lotus or Ferrari
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TRAV
on April 23, 2013Mark…we fans of you need a win…its been a while m8….All the best for Spain!
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TRICKO
on April 24, 2013good to finish one shame about the tyres takes alot out of them to be racing and not in clear air.roll on spain waiting for the win.COME ON THE WEBBER!!!!
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Bidi
on April 24, 2013You are still my No. 1 Racing Driver
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Susan
on April 24, 2013Was great racing Mark just a shame you didn’t get a podium for all your hard work. Damn those Pirelli’s. Looking forward to next few races as you’ve done brilliantly at those circuits in the past. It’s early days yet and you can still win many races this season! As you say “keep boxing”. Cheers from the sunny coast (which by the way actually has been sunny over the past 10days:)
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craig h
on April 24, 2013when your on you can beat anyone!…i,ve noticed alot more focus & more balls to the wall from you this season …..& your on a winner with that …if only we could get a decent run with the tools & team at hand!….meditate those track layouts & grab good qualies!……we are with ya mate! 😉
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Peter L
on April 26, 2013Colour me stupid if you will but shouldn’t F1 be about racing to the max and NOT about F’n tire conservation???!!!
Pirrelis suck!!!
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psycho budgie
on April 27, 2013It was excellent seeing you climb through the field to 2nd – you still ended well in the points at the end mate. Looking forward to Barcelona.
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bjr
on April 27, 2013remember Vettel took maylasia not only for the points he knows racing is also cofidence and did not want you to get the confidence of a 2013 race winner and also feel that you have to chase…be calm…..be yourself….what happens happens…….
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Dave Tett
on April 28, 2013Hello fellow MW fans. Please check out my blog regarding F1 and Mark.
https://thewebbereview.blogspot.ca/
thanks! Hope you like it 🙂 -
TRAV
on May 1, 2013its not racing now…its a tyre war
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humpty dumpty
on May 1, 2013time for a win Mark….smashem in Barcelona!!!
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