All may not be rosy at Red Bull
Last week Mark Webber cleared the air with Red Bull following the drama at the British Grand Prix, but all might not be so well in the Red Bull camp.
Red Bull team adviser Helmut Marko believes Sebastian Vettel should be aggrieved by what has happened so far this season.
“If Mark imagines there’s a conspiracy between us and Vettel against him, then he is on the wrong track. Did Mark have the defective spark plug in Bahrain, the loose wheel in Australia, the broken brake disc in Barcelona, the defective chassis in Monte Carlo, the transmission problems in Montreal and now the broken wing at Silverstone?”
Austrian Marko went on to say that Webber should be grateful to the team.
“I don’t know what Webber wants. The driver who got the new wing was ahead in the championship and faster in the third timed practice. It was a very logical decision.
“In comparison, Webber has come out with only a black eye. Mark is having a great season and has improved big time, but he should not forget that he owes much of this to the team. Where was he two years ago? Then, he couldn’t even dream of grand prix victories. Today, we’ve given him a car so that he can win on his own.”
Marko blamed Webber for the collision in Turkey which saw the Red Bull duo hit one another, compromising the race win, despite Vettel arguably being responsible, while he has also said Webber should be replaced by Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi.
Webber won at Silverstone, and when he crossed the finish line, he said on the team radio: “Not bad for a No.2 driver.”
This came on the back of the events during the final practice session. Red Bull arrived with only two newly-designed front wings, and Vettel was handed the front wing from Webber’s car after he broke his. Webber qualified second to Vettel, and the front wing was believed to have made all the difference. There were suggestions of favouritism towards Vettel, leaving Webber fuming.
The reason behind the decision, it was later revealed, was the young German was ahead of Webber in the drivers’ standings at the time.
Now the dust has settled on Webber’s part at least, he insists he only wants a “fair deal” at Red Bull.
He said: “It was a message to my team. But it's a fair admission that I put too much out to the world. I would have liked it not to have got out. But it did. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I try to be honest to myself and everyone, and I'm being honest with you. I don't want any favouritism, just a fair deal. You need to make sure you don't have any headwinds. You can't afford anything that makes it a little bit harder for you.”
Team principal Christian Horner revealed he should have spoken to Webber about the decision to give Vettel the front wing, but Webber feels the situation will change in his favour.
“On Saturday [qualifying] I was obviously a bit hot under the collar with what was going on. It was a unique situation because it was the first time we had just one component. It was a tricky decision to make. I was pretty disappointed by it. But the upshot is that it will go the other way in the future - it just will, even if that's hard for people to believe. He was given the wing because he was higher in the Championship than me. Now I am higher, so you can follow the logic.”
Logic dictates that advisers are supposed to offer guidance at difficult times. Not create them.
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