Formula 1: Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel – the Red Bull drivers are team mates but not friends
Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber has professed that there have been times this season when he has gotten the impression that he’s the number two driver in the Austrian team. However, the Australian driver was quick to point out that
at present, he felt like the team’s number-one driver. Webber also remarked that a driver’s position within a team relative to his team mate is always changing.
The Australian driver also made some interesting revelations about his off the track relationship with his German team mate, Sebastian Vettel. Webber conceded that he did not know his Red Bull partner that well, and the two were
not really friends. In a revealing interview, Webber remarked that his ties with Vettel were formal at best, and that the two rarely socialized outside the professional arena.
Speculation about a rift between the two team mates has been rife ever since the Red Bull men spectacularly crashed into each other at the Turkish Grand Prix earlier this year while battling for a place. This extraordinary tussle
resulted in Vettel retiring from the race, but Webber recovered just in time to continue racing. Although most pundits held Vettel responsible for the incident, the Red Bull management initially blamed Webber for the saga before retracting that statement and
bringing their views more in line with the mainstream opinion.
At the 2010 British Grand Prix it again began to appear as if the relationship between the Red Bull team mates was on the rocks. Webber quite publicly quipped that he was the number-two driver at Red Bull after the management decided
to equip Vettel with new equipment at Webber’s expense. Even though both drivers insisted that they did not have a problem with each other, there was talk on Vettel’s part about finally being able to see some people’s true faces.
Now Webber has come out clean about the two drivers’ precise relationship, admitting that they are definitely not mates. The Australian matter-of-factly said the enormous age gap between himself and his team mate precluded any
possibility of a budding friendship between the two. Webber’s 34th birthday coincided with the recent Belgian Grand Prix. On that occasion, when Vettel was asked whether he had any plans to light up his team mate’s special day, Vettel quite unabashedly
admitted he had no idea it was Webber’s birthday.
It is understandable Webber would feel slightly insecure about the esteem he is held in within his own team, considering that he is Sebastian Vettel’s team mate. Vettel is hot property in Formula One at this point in time. Young
and talented, the German still has many years ahead of him in the sport. In contrast, Webber is nearing the end of his career, and 2010 might be his last chance to notch the coveted world championship title.
In a recent interview, Webber said winning the drivers’ title would be a dream come true for him. The Australian driver said the knowledge that he was pitted against a team mate whose commercial value far outstripped his own gave
him added incentive to perform well. Webber admitted that soon the Red Bull management would have to make a decision as to which of their drivers deserved the team’s backing for the title. Webber would presumably hope that the management favours him, as he
has a slight edge over Vettel in the drivers’ championship.
Interestingly, McLaren’s Jenson Button, who fell afoul of Vettel’s accident prone driving at the recent Belgian Grand Prix, said the Red Bull management “loved” their young German star too much to give number-one status to the
well-experienced Mark Webber. Button remarked that it was Mark Webber whom McLaren saw as their chief rival for the 2010 trophy rather than Vettel, whose numerous costly errors this season could ultimately cost Red Bull Racing the championship trophy.
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