Webber Plays Down Schumacher's Fast Lap at Jerez

Given the chaotic behavior of the new Pirelli tires, a whole lot has been said and written of the latest performances put in by several F1 drivers in Jerez. Needless to say, a bunch of performances have made the headlines this weekend, starting with Michael Schumacher's fastest laps on Friday and ending with Nick Heidfeld's field topping lap times the next day.

Taking it one at a time, Schumacher's performance was the one that caught the media eye the first, as the German managed some incredibly fast flying laps only a day after his teammate Nico Rosberg had been quite critic of the new Mercedes W02. According to Red Bull's Mark Webber, a logical explanation for that rested in the behavior of the Pirelli tires.

“It was probably just a little show for Germany,” smiled Webber when looking at Schu's lap times at Jerez. “The super soft tire is much faster but they only last for one lap,” he added.

“There are big differences between the different types of tires,” added Jenson Button, who has struggled at the wheel of his McLaren MP4-26 all weekend.

According to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, another mystery that needed elucidation was Rubens Barrichello's best time of the weekend, set on Sunday at the wheel of his Williams FW33 (which still lacks the 2011 livery). It seems the Brazilian's time was also subject to super soft tire influence, as Williams are aiming to boost the value of their shares on the stock market.

“The difference between the hard and the super-soft, I would say is 1.5 to 1.7 seconds,” added Brazilian driver Bruno Senna, who also tested for Renault this weekend and didn't come near Nick Heidfeld's lap time a day before.