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14th
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Mark Webber will take a three-place grid penalty for his tangle with Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne during the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Red Bull stablemates tangled at turn six, with the Australian ploughing into the side of the sister car as he tried to make up position after starting from the pits following a grid penalty in qualifying.
The incident resulted in a spin for Vergne and a broken front wing for Webber. In spite of his obvious disappointment, the Red Bull driver does not blame the Toro Rosso driver for the incident and after the race claimed the Frenchman was ‘entitled' to defend his position.
“It's disappointing. He was entitled to do that, but if he'd just gone around the outside we would've both survived,” said Webber.
The Australian also admitted that he was confused by Vergne's actions as he thought he was letting him through.
“I was regrouping and coming through the field and got to Jean-Eric," he continued. "I was coming from a reasonable distance back but he knew I was there.
“I thought he [Jean-Eric] was being very co-operative under braking and I thought that's fair enough and we'd roll round there together and he'd give me some room.”
“[But] then he came down [towards the apex] and I couldn't get out of it at that point. It probably looks quite clumsy, but it was disappointing that we made contact.
“He was really, really wide and looking like he opened the corner and was giving me the line.”
"[But] we got to the apex and he took it.”
Webber also admitted that his difficult weekend could not have been any worse as he retired from the race after the Red Bull lost a wheel after a pit stop following the incident with Vergne.
“You could not script it, could you?" he said after the race.
The Red Bull stablemates tangled at turn six, with the Australian ploughing into the side of the sister car as he tried to make up position after starting from the pits following a grid penalty in qualifying.
The incident resulted in a spin for Vergne and a broken front wing for Webber. In spite of his obvious disappointment, the Red Bull driver does not blame the Toro Rosso driver for the incident and after the race claimed the Frenchman was ‘entitled' to defend his position.
“It's disappointing. He was entitled to do that, but if he'd just gone around the outside we would've both survived,” said Webber.
The Australian also admitted that he was confused by Vergne's actions as he thought he was letting him through.
“I was regrouping and coming through the field and got to Jean-Eric," he continued. "I was coming from a reasonable distance back but he knew I was there.
“I thought he [Jean-Eric] was being very co-operative under braking and I thought that's fair enough and we'd roll round there together and he'd give me some room.”
“[But] then he came down [towards the apex] and I couldn't get out of it at that point. It probably looks quite clumsy, but it was disappointing that we made contact.
“He was really, really wide and looking like he opened the corner and was giving me the line.”
"[But] we got to the apex and he took it.”
Webber also admitted that his difficult weekend could not have been any worse as he retired from the race after the Red Bull lost a wheel after a pit stop following the incident with Vergne.
“You could not script it, could you?" he said after the race.