Red Bull’s Mark Webber Underplays Crash with Kovalainen’s Lotus at European Grand Prix
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was involved in an ugly accident in the European Grand Prix at Valencia. The accident looked quite disturbing at first glance, but the Australian emerged unhurt.
Webber, though, is taking a philosophical stance regarding the incident. He admitted that the crash was a nightmare to be part of, but he is pleased that he came out in one piece.
Webber’s car was at 190mph, and after hitting Kovalainen’s car, catapulted in the air and landed upside down before sliding into the side barriers.
The Australian did not make a big deal out of it, and said that when someone is involved in a sport like this for years, like he has been, sooner or later a big accident like this is bound to happen. He added that he was just lucky to have walked away without any injuries.
Webber, in an interview, said that normally when people are involved in big accidents they tend to black out, and later when they are asked about it they don’t remember much. However, that was not the case with him, as Webber said that he remembers the whole crash clearly.
Webber, who started in 2nd spot at the start of the race, was caught in traffic as soon as the race began and was left in 9th place, and decided to take an early pit stop to get out of traffic.
As soon as he came out of the pits, he made his move and started sprinting, but Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus was blocking him off. Webber, whose car was clearly much quicker than the Lotus in front of him, was getting frustrated and decided to go for broke. In an effort to move ahead, he ran Kovalainen close but the Lotus driver was not willing to give way and made it difficult for Webber by swerving the car left and right. However, when Heikki hit the brakes in the 9th lap, Webber was caught totally off guard, and his front wing hit the rear side of Kovalainen’s car. Considering the speed of the car, it was not such a big surprise that the Red Bull car somersaulted in the air and crashed down on its head.
Webber, while reflecting on the accident, said that it certainly takes two to have an accident.
The Red Bull driver admitted that he also could have done something different to avoid the accident, but he reiterated that Kovalainen could have also been more responsible and there was not much at stake, so the crash clearly could have been avoided.
Webber has been involved in accidents earlier, and in total he has had three crashes in his F1 career. Thankfully for him, he has been able to walk out on his own two feet every time.
After the accident, it was nice relief for him to be involved in an activity with his team, when they took part in a publicity event where they made a pit stop ahead of the House of Parliament. The event was for the British Grand Prix.
The Australian said that he enjoyed the event thoroughly and it was a rare opportunity to see London from the inside of an F1 car.
In the end, Webber said that even though it was a light activity, it was still some good practice as this season is probably more competitive than any other, so any sort of practice is good practice.
Mark Webber is currently on the 4th spot in the driver standings (with 103 points), and lags 24 points behind the championship leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.
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