Fresh rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel over “Drinks” comment
Despite being Junior Formula 1 team-mates and friends, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, are in a middle of a cold war which was started by the Britons comments about the Austrian drinks company, Red Bull. Hamilton, while trying to shadow McLaren’s performance in the pre-season testing, said that Red Bull is just a ‘drinks company’. Before that comment, both Vettel and Hamilton, were not very friendly but kept up appearances.
Hamilton had previously said that Red Bull Racing is just a ‘drinks company’ and will not overtake the Formula 1 arena when sporting giants like Ferrari and McLaren are still around. Hamilton’s comment came after Formula 1 saw Red Bull secure both Constructor and Drivers titles for 2010 and were looking untouchable in the pre-season testing sessions. Hamilton’s comment was not seen in the Red Bull camp as a joke and the team was quickly up in arms.
Christian Horner commented that the Red Bull team had overtaken the sports veteran teams and Ferrari and McLaren should kneel down to the ‘Drinks Company’.
After completing a miserable pre-season testing session, the McLaren team was almost the only competitor behind the Red Bull. McLaren’s performance in the Australian Grand Prix was criticised by Adrian Newey, Technical Director of Red Bull. Newey stated that McLaren should thank Red Bull because their car performed well in Melbourne by copying Red Bull’s exhaust system.
The Australian Grand Prix saw the roaring Red Bull team marching towards the podium. The only team in Red Bull’s rear view mirror was McLaren, who showed some promise in the race and the qualifiers. McLaren’s Hamilton was able to break the monopoly of the drinks company at the top, as he placed himself between the Red Bull duo in the qualifiers.
As the race started, Ferrari, Mercedes and Toro Rosso were well out of the picture and Vettel in his RB7 was almost alone in the front. The only car behind Vettel was Hamilton’s MP4-26. Hamilton was putting up a good fight but soon visited the gravel and damaged his car’s floor. After that Vettel was all alone coming into first position because Hamilton dropped his speed to safely pilot his car to the chequered flag.
Hamilton and Vettel share a long history from when they were team-mates in the Junior Formula series. Hamilton had the better of Vettel and finished fifth driving for the McLaren team. Hamilton also became the youngest Formula 1 champion in 2008 and remained the youngest champion for only one year. Vettel took the title of Youngest Formula 1 champion when he was only 22 years old.
After making a flying lap in the qualifiers at Melbourne in 1 minute and 23.529 seconds, Vettel said on the radio, “we are who we are and we are proud of it,” intensifying the rivalry with the British driver.
Clearly Vettel’s Red Bull was uncatchable in Melbourne, but Mark Webber’s bull was held off to fifth place on his home ground. Hamilton was able to score 18 points to Vettel’s 25, while his team-mate finished sixth after having a drive thru penalty.
Altogether, Hamilton was able to put on a good show on race day and didn’t have to face any embarrassment after starting a cold war with Red Bull.
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