Motorsport: Webber slams 'boring' F1 tech scrap

Fresh from snaring pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Mark Webber labelled the technical rule row engulfing the sport as "nonsense".

Webber outpaced defending champion and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in Saturday's qualifying to secure the seventh pole of his career and Red Bull's fourth clean sweep of the front row this season.

But the Australian, who is yet to lead a full lap of this year's championship, says the ongoing discussions over rule changes and regulations in the past few weeks was dull and not what the sport should be about.

"Seb and I have concentrated on the driving, otherwise it gets very, very boring," Webber said of the off-track controversies.

"But what has happened is not new for our team.

"Every year we have a new thing to talk about, and now let's hope everyone can find a common ground.

"It is incredibly boring also for the fans. They cannot understand 0.1 per cent of what's going on. Even for us it is sometimes difficult.

"So let's get on with the racing. Keep the rules as simple as possible from the start of the year maybe and go from there."

Webber, the winner at Silverstone last year when he famously uttered that his effort was "not bad for a No.2 driver" to team boss Christian Horner, said his display wasn't motivated by showing up those who felt the rule changes would halt Red Bull's dominance.

"The team has handled it pretty well," the 34-year-old said after clocking a one minute and 30.399 second lap to earn top spot for Sunday's grid.

Young Australian Daniel Ricciardo confirmed his spot in the line-up for Sunday's race by successfully completing qualifying.

The 22-year-old, driving for lowly Hispania Racing Team, will start from the 24th and last position in his maiden grand prix and has set himself the goal of just completing the race.

"I'm half a second off Tonio (experienced Italian teammate Tonio Liuzzi), which isn't much, but for a racing car driver it is quite a lot," Ricciardo said.

"I want more, but I shouldn't really expect too much at this stage.

"If I can keep closing the gap (to Liuzzi) then it's OK."

Despite having to take second position behind Webber, Vettel was typically upbeat.

"It was a pity I didn't get a second run in Q3 and Mark did a great lap. It was a tricky session with the rain but a great result for the team especially after all the talking about stuff this weekend."

Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third fastest for Ferrari ahead of his team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa as rivals McLaren struggled to mount a serious challenge.

Briton Jenson Button, in the leading McLaren, was fifth and his team-mate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton was able to qualify in only 10th place.

Hamilton said: "There's not too much to say ... The fans here are fantastic. The support we've had has been magnificent and hopefully tomorrow we can do something special for them, get some points at least."

- AAP