Red Bull in best shape - Webber

By Sarah Holt BBC Sport at the Circuit de Catalunya

Mark Webber said he believed his Red Bull team were ahead of their rivals after setting the pace on the first day of the final pre-season test.

The Australian set a fastest time of one minute 21.487 seconds at the Circuit de Catalunya, a second faster than anyone else on Thursday.

Webber, who also suffered a delay when his car stopped on the track, said: "We had a pretty good day's testing.

"Every day is crucial but we're in better shape than the other teams."

On a day when it emerged that new team US F1 will almost certainly fail to make the grid this year, and that Indian Karun Chandhok is poised to seal a drive at fellow new team Campos , Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg impressed with second fastest time.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was third fastest ahead of Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa and McLaren's Jenson Button

It is notoriously difficult to judge form based on headline times in pre-season testing as it is impossible to be sure of the amount of fuel the cars had on board.

Judging by the manner in which Webber set his best time, it is believed that he was doing some low fuel qualifying runs.

Webber said: "This time is one of the best if not the best in the pit-lane in terms of what we've done last year and what we're doing this year.

"So we are very confident going into Bahrain (for the first race on 14 March) that we're working hard and that the team is doing a good job."

Webber said the Red Bull was in "pretty close to Bahrain set-up", adding: "We had some new aerodynamic updates which worked pretty well and some of that stuff will go to the Middle East."

He said: "It was a clean day's testing apart from a precautionary stop on circuit because of gearbox oil pressure with a pretty high mileage part to be honest, so it wasn't a huge surprise to be honest that that had to be done.

"We tried to take it into the afternoon but it didn't quite work for us.

"But there were plenty of positives, a lot of data to dig through before we get to Bahrain."

Asked whether he had any worries about the car's reliability after being forced to stop out on the track at least three times in three pre-season tests, Webber said: "You know, you can always make the car more reliable, there is no question about it."

More to follow.

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