Formula One: Mid Season Review of Red Bull’s Mark Webber
Red Bull Racing had been in the news all through the season. One after the other there had been stories, gossips and news that have highlighted the team right from the start of the season. Their wins and retirements, car up gradations and advancements, their crashes and clashes all have got enough attention right from the start of the season.
This time once again their driver Mark Webber is able to claim enough space in the newspapers as well as all the television channels. Yes, one of the reasons is his victory but also another reason is the favouritism that the team showed for his teammate Sebastien Vettel and has treated him as a ‘number two’ driver, whereas he had been able to prove himself equally good or even better than his teammate at several instances around the season.
The season had overall been an excellent one for him. He is the only driver so far who had been able to get his hands on three race wins this year. Other top drivers of this season, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Sebastian Vettel had been able to grab two victories each.
For Webber, the season actually did not begin very well, as he sadly landed at eighth place in the first race in Bahrain and later at ninth place in the second race in Australia. However, with the third race of the season, in Malaysia, luck came rushing back to him as he ended at second place. The next race, Chinese Grand Prix, again did not bring him the desired results as he started the race at second place but was hardly able to end it at eighth.
Real purple patch for the season came to him at the start of May, as he was able to win both the races of the month held in Spain and Monaco respectively. The following race, the Turkish Grand Prix, was very dramatic, as he began the race from the pole position and had a great start, as he led all through till he had a drastic crash with his teammate Vettel, resulting in the latter’s retirement from the race. Whereas Webber had to give, his top position and compromised at third in the race. There he left the room of top position vacant for Lewis Hamilton, which still he is not able to get back. In addition, the incident brought forward the severe rivalry and envy going between the two Red Bull drivers.
At the next race of the season in Montreal, the RB6 was not able to do very well, as Webber concluded the race at fifth place, once again the two McLarens giving a one-two finish to the team. Webber went short of luck yet again at the European Grand Prix, as he was hit by the Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen at the Valencia Circuit. The crash was a bad one as Webber’s car performed a complete somersault in the air before it landed crashing in the boundary tyre wall. The car was completely damaged and for Webber a new one was built to be used for the British Grand Prix however, it was lucky of the two drivers that they both came out unhurt from the crash.
Only after two weeks of the scary incident, the Australian driver had not only been able to race but also win at the British Grand Prix amidst all the drama and conspiracy that the team is accused to create. During the practice session, Vettel damaged his front wing, which was replaced by Webber’s new ones by the team. The action had been very surprising for the driver himself, as well as the entire race loving world, as through this action the team had evidently shown that Vettel is the number one driver for the team, though they had been claiming time and again that both are the same for them.
Well, Webber as well as his fans are happy that he proved himself on the track at Silverstone and it is hoped that the driver would keep doing great all through the rest of the season as well.
Tags: