Flavio Briatore not pleased with Webber’s decision to reveal injury
A sportsman has to look after his body, as fitness is the key in any sport. Mark Webber revealed that he had a shoulder injury several months after the end of the 2010 season. However, his manager, Flavio Briatore was not pleased with Webber's decision to
reveal the injury so late.
According to Briatore, the injury should have been revealed during the season when Webber sustained it. He said that after he had hidden the injury from everyone in his team, he shouldn’t have discussed it later and kept it to himself.
Webber had a bicycle accident before the start of the Japanese Grand Prix. However, the injury wasn’t that serious which allowed him to continue racing. This was not the first time that the Australian driver had a bicycle accident; he broke his leg while
he was cycling in Tasmania back in 2008.
After Webber revealed his injury in his book that came out in December, he admitted that the fractured shoulder didn’t cost him his first ever Formula One title.
Briatore echoed the words of Webber and said that the injury wasn’t a factor in determining his title chances. He said that the error committed by the Australian driver during the Korean GP was the main reason behind losing the title.
The Korean GP was rain-affected and before the start of the race, Webber was leading the driver’s championship. However, he crashed his car in slippery conditions and ended-up without a single point in the race.
This race didn’t prove to be an ideal one for the Red Bull team as Webber’s team-mate, Sebastian Vettel had a mechanical problem and wasn’t able to complete the race after leading it for majority of the laps.
The Spaniard, Fernando Alonso took advantage of the retirements of both the Red Bull drivers and won the inaugural Korean GP. He also became the championship leader after the victory in the race.
Alonso continued to lead the championship until the last race, but two back-to-back wins for Vettel in Brazil and Abu Dhabi helped him win the championship. Vettel wasn’t the most likely to win the championship, but he won three of the last four races to
secure his maiden title, and became the youngest champion ever in Formula 1 history.
The Italian, Briatore expects a stiff competition between Webber and Alonso in the 2011 season. He has been involved with Alonso during his championship victories for Renault.
According to the Italian, Alonso had a lot to do last season, as Ferrari wasn’t the best car on the grid. The team had to do a lot of catching-up with Red Bull and Mclaren-Mercedes, which cost him to end-up as a runner-up.
However, Briatore said that it would be too early to predict whether Ferrari will be a strong team in the next season or not. He said that, “It's early to say. I expect Red Bull to still be strong and McLaren to be competitive once again. I see a four-way
battle: [Sebastian] Vettel, Webber, Alonso and [Lewis] Hamilton.”
Although Briatore expects a strong competition ahead in the 2011 season, he favoured Alonso by saying, “Fernando is motivated, and Ferrari wants to give him a winning car from the start, without the need of chasing the others. That's what he wants and deserves.
Alonso has the resources to win the title in 2011.”
There have been a lot of changes made by FIA for the 2011 season and the teams will be looking forward to adapt to the new regulations. The pre-season testing will kick-off at Valencia in February and almost all the teams have announced their launch dates.
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