Webber: Maybe penalty was to spice things up.

German Grand Prix winner Mark Webber has jokingly suggested that his drive-thru' penalty for contact with Rubens Barrichello may have been used to make the race more interesting, such was the apparent dominance of his Red Bull car.

Although the Australian wasn't leading at the time of the penalty, having been beaten off the line by Barrichello and then suffered a secondary collision when Lewis Hamilton clipped his front wing at turn one, he was the faster of the two leaders, and admitted to biding his time behind the Brawn before aiming to take control of the race during the first round of pit-stops.

As he proved later in the event, once in front, the RB5 was near untouchable, Webber winning by 9.2secs after easing off over the final laps.

"I thought [the penalty] was a little bit harsh, but maybe they wanted to spice things up a little bit," he laughed, "It is not really my style, [but] I think I did definitely lose Rubens 100 per cent for a while.

"I moved across and, then, what made it worse was that I sh*tted myself and came back across again. Then I thought 'my God, there he is'. That's what made it look maybe a little bit worse than it was. I had a fair idea what [the penalty] was for, but also I thought that, when I touched one of the McLarens in turn one, I lost a little bit of the front wing, [although] I couldn't believe it was for that.

"Of course, I was shattered when I was told I had got a drive-thru'. I thought 'I am absolutely cruising here behind Rubens, and I know he is short [fuelled]. I know everything is under control'. A drive-thru' is very harsh for anyone in any grand prix, so I had to recover - I also thought I was pretty close to getting done for speeding in the pit-lane as well as I was quite frustrated - but, in the end, it turned out okay, [although] it could have been a different story."

Having taken his punishment at the same time as Barrichello made his first pit-stop for fuel and tyres, Webber was able to lead briefly before stopping on lap 19, then had to bide his time as the various strategies played out before assuming the lead for good on lap 32, having cruised back up to Barrichello ahead of the Brazilian's second stop.

After that, the lead was only ceded during his final stop - when team-mate Sebastian Vettel took over at the front - but Webber was able to control his pace to the flag, even lapping a couple of seconds slower in the closing stages.

"Sebastian had a problem on Friday with the car in turn one, so there were a few things I had to be aware of and make sure I kept the car in the middle of the track," he confirmed, "I just brought it home, staying away from the kerbs. It is not just [turn one] - you have got the chicane, and quite a few areas where we run the kerbs on the exits and, if you narrow the track a lot like I was in the last stint, then, for sure, you drop the lap time. It is circuit specific here.

There was no reason to finish 20secs in front instead of ten. As Jack Brabham used to say 'win at the slowest possible speed', so I was thinking of Jack today."

Like his compatriots battling for control of the first Ashes test in Cardiff, Webber had cause to glance skyward lest it rain, but admitted that, in general, he enjoyed the run to the chequered flag.

"On lap 40, when I knew everything was pretty much in the bag, it got a bit darker, I could feel it got a little bit colder in the car and I thought 'hmm, we're going to be tested once more'," he revealed, "But, from lap 52 or 53 onwards, I knew it probably wasn't going to rain again and, actually, I was pretty relaxed.

"I was enjoying driving the car - it's always nice when you have a buffer but, for sure, I wanted the chequered flag to come and, yes, I was thinking about the car a lot. There was a little bit of debris in the first sector, so I was making sure not to pick up any punctures, and also some stones in turn nine, so lots of things like that which you start to really keep an eye. Normally, you don't care about it when you're twelfth but, when you're leading, it's a different ball game."