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Competition getting tougher: Webber

Updated on: 09 April,2011 07:28 AM IST |
AFP |

After leading both practice races yesterday Red Bull's Australian driver Mark Webber says the competition is getting tougher ahead of Sunday's race

After leading both practice races yesterday Red Bull's Australian driver Mark Webber says the competition is getting tougher ahead of Sunday's race

Red Bull's Australian driver Mark Webber prepares to drive during practice
for the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Webber, fifth two weeks ago in Melbourne, bested McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, while his team-mate and 2010 champion Sebastien Vettel focussed on testing Red Bull's misfiring Kinetic Energy Regeneration System (KERS).

Britons Button and Hamilton were second and third quickest on the day, ahead of Vettel -- who improved on 17th in the morning session -- and his much-decorated German compatriot Michael Schumacher in a Mercedes.
The top four were separated by just a quarter of a second, suggesting McLaren have emerged as the main rivals to last year's top team at this early stage of the season.

Vettel spent much of the day checking Red Bull's KERS speed boost, which went unused during his Melbourne win but which is expected to be vital on the long straights of the Sepang circuit, near Kuala Lumpur.

"Obviously there's not much in it," Webber said. "We're all pretty close, give or take a couple of tenths (of a second): who got traffic, who didn't, how their KERS worked. So far, so good, I'm towards the front somewhere."

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