Red Bull playing mind games with McLaren
Red Bull driver Mark Webber insists the duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren will have a collision one day.
Webber and his teammate Sebastian Vettel collided at the Turkish Grand Prix, throwing away the race victory and a massive amount of points. Although neither driver has taken the blame for the incident, Webber says his relationship with Vettel is “pretty good,” admitting there is a rivalry between him and Vettel.
“If Seb's drowning in the ocean then I'll go and help him out. We don't hate each other's guts. But when you're at the front and both trying to win there's going to be a healthy competitive rivalry. It's totally natural. It's not easy to have a beautiful, fuzzy, warm relationship when your teammate is clearly a competitor,” said Webber.
The Australian, who survived a spectacular crash in his last outing at the European Grand Prix, insists the rivalry is the same between the two British drivers at McLaren.
“That is absolutely the case at McLaren too. They are working hard to put smoke and mirrors up because those two are racing hard. If you're always racing at the front, inevitably it's going to come. I don't want the headlines to be 'Jenson and Hamilton are going to hit each other this weekend'. That's not what I'm saying,” he said.
Hamilton and Button almost took each other out as well in Turkey. When Webber was told they are both yet to hit one another, he replied “Not yet.”
“It's inevitable because of what's at stake, and that they're both hungry, both driven. If I'd got no competition about me, no real fire or desire, then I'd get on with Seb like a house on fire,” added Webber.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also feels that one collision could scupper Hamilton and Button’s friendship. “Anybody who thinks Lewis and Jenson aren't competitive and won't push each other to the limit are sadly mistaken. They're competitive guys, they're the current and former world champions, and I don't think they [McLaren] have a No.1 or No.2 driver. I'm sure Jenson didn't sign a contract to be a number two driver there.”
“They haven't actually raced each other head to head. The only time they did that appeared to be in Istanbul, and they got pretty close to each other then. It's inevitable in a competitive sport they will be pushing each other, and perhaps won't be having so much of a love-in when that does happen.
“It will only take one small incident for things to flare up between the McLaren drivers, I'm sure. It will be interesting to see when they do race wheel to wheel again what the outcome will be,” said Horner.
Not that Horner is trying to stir anything.
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