“Not bad for a number two driver,” was Mark Webber’s cryptic comment over the radio on his victorious slowing-down lap, and thereby hung a tale.
Twenty-four hours earlier, at the post-qualifying press conference, Webber had looked like a man ready to explode, which indeed he was. Alongside him sat the pole position man, his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel, and clearly Webber felt it had not been a fair fight.
It was all a matter of wings – in particular, front wings. The team had new ones for Silverstone, but there had been time enough to manufacture only two, one for each driver. Or so Webber thought. On Saturday morning, though, Vettel’s collapsed on the Hangar Straight – ‘finger trouble’ (F1-speak for ‘human error’), apparently – and it looked like bad luck for Sebastian, for the wing was damaged beyond repair and no spare was available.
Except, of course, for the one on Webber’s car. And it was decided by the team that because Vettel was ahead of Mark in terms of championship points and position, he should have the one and only new front wing at Silverstone. Accordingly, it was transferred from Webber’s car to Vettel’s, and symbolically – if nothing else – that was highly significant, for it further fuelled the widespread belief (hotly denied by the team, of course) that Sebastian is the favoured one at Red Bull, and Mark ‘the other driver’.
Webber was livid, and none could blame him. Unsmiling, stone-faced, he suggested at the conference that, “The team had got the result it wanted…”
As we know, Webber has come through a hard school en route to the top echelons of Formula 1, and as the cars came up to the grid one almost – but not quite – felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy Vettel, who was about to experience the wrath of a team-mate who felt he had been wronged.
Having qualified second, Mark was of course on the ‘dirty’ side of the track, but at Silverstone this tends to be less of a problem than at most circuits (perhaps because of the unusually large number of support races here), and when the lights went out the second Red Bull was instantly alongside the first, Webber ignoring Vettel’s attempt to block him.
In effect, the destiny of the British Grand Prix depended on a drag race in the opening seconds, and Webber won it. At Copse, the first corner, Vettel’s problems were multiplied when his car was hit from behind by Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren: swiftly he radioed in to say he had a puncture.
Vettel came at the end of the first lap, his soft Bridgestones replaced by the harder ones – which would now, of course, have to last for an entire Grand Prix. Initially Sebastian, dead last, seemed to lose heart, but by half-distance he had come alive again, and in the end finished a good seventh, having dealt in the late laps with fellow Germans Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and, ahem, Michael Schumacher…
After the race Webber was all smiles, of course, after one of the most satisfying races of his life, and the victory put him up to third in the World Championship, one place ahead of Vettel. Did this mean, someone asked, that if there were a ‘wing situation’ or something similar at the German Grand Prix (in two weeks’ time), he would get preferential treatment over Vettel? Mark grinned: “Dunno, mate. You’d think so, wouldn’t you…?”
Although, as expected, the Red Bulls were clearly the fastest cars at this, a circuit made for their peerless ability in ultra-quick corners, Webber allowed that he had not had an easy afternoon, Hamilton not having the car quite to challenge him, but certainly one quick enough to keep him alert. “I had no interest in anyone else in the race,” said Mark. “All I wanted was the pitboards giving me the gap to Lewis…”
Hamilton reckoned his qualifying lap, good for fourth on the grid, to have been probably the best of his life, which is saying something. McLaren looked to be in real trouble during practice on Friday, with the team’s new exhaust-blown diffuser (due originally to make its debut at Hockenheim) not producing the results anticipated. That evening it was decided to drop it for this weekend, and put the cars back to original specification. But still they didn’t look like front-runners, and Hamilton’s fourth best time – Jenson Button was back in 14th – was heroic, as indeed was his drive on race day. Button, for his part, also drove a fine race and came up to fourth, sandwiched between Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and Rubens Barrichello’s ever-improving Williams-Cosworth.
Before the race it looked unlikely that anyone would offer a serious challenge to Red Bull, and so it proved, but the man apparently closest to Vettel and Webber on pace was Fernando Alonso, as usual comfortably faster than his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa.
Alonso, though, made a poor start, dropping instantly from third to fifth place, demoted by Rosberg and Robert Kubica’s Renault, and there he stayed until the tyre stops. The revisions to Silverstone went down better with some drivers than others, but all concluded that, sadly, they offered nothing in terms of more overtaking opportunities.
Later, in a scrap with Kubica, Alonso somewhat unavoidably cut a corner, and in so doing got ahead of the Renault driver, after which he should have given the position back. By the time the stewards reached a decision that he should be penalised – with a ‘drive-through’ – Kubica had already retired, and instead of losing just one position Alonso lost a great many. Most considered the stewards’ decision harsh, and afterwards Fernando was so angry that he refused to be interviewed. With precisely four points from the last two races, Ferrari – while pretty good on pace – is having a thin time of it just now.
Webber, so far the only driver to win three races this year, glowed with delight afterwards. Had this been a case of poetic justice? “Well,” he grinned, “maybe there’s a bloke upstairs every now and then… I made a good start, and I was… very keen to make it my corner, let’s put it that way.
“I wasn’t massively in favour of what happened yesterday, with the front wing thing – to be honest, I would never have signed a new contract for next year if I’d believed that was the way things were going to be. Let’s just see how it goes in the future. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, and hopefully it’s enough.”
And now comes Germany…
Demo
I take it from your comments that you MUST be a Ferrari fan,
Alonso’s overtake was right?, why – has he got special permission to cut a corner if he can’t get past another driver any other way?.
Wake up and stop being biased.
Alonso brought the penalty on himself, He KNEW the pass was illegal, He KNEW he should have allowed kubica to re-pass him and not to challenge until the next corner was passed.
BUT he thought he may just ‘get away’ with it. – but he did’nt,
Not very sporting of him was it?
He left the stewards with very little option but a drive thru penalty.
He was VERY vocal in 2008 when Hamilton was penalised for overtaking Kimi – even after he gave back the pass, a FAR more controvesial event than what happened at Silverstone.
If there is one team that should know the rules in this situation it’s Ferrari.
And as for going home to mummy and not talking to anybody from the press, – it just shows that under pressure Alonso can’t hack it.
His year at McLaren showed that, the one team that DOES NOT favour one driver over another – and he expected ‘No1′ status, HA! Hamilton made him look foolish – hence the histrionics and hissy fits.
A good driver – but a flawed one, He got what he deserved.
We just need Massa to turn up the heat a little.
Perhaps Rob Smedley should be taking Felipe home with him for the rest of the season?
Felipe’ Massa:
“I’ll talk to Alonso to find out why he has touched my car. You really must not touch your team-mate’s car.”
That’s a (translated) quote from a Brazilian website.
Looks like the Raikkonen-Massa type harmony at Ferrari has been thrown out the window following China (pit entry near tangle) and, now, Silverstone.
I mentioned Alonso ‘shredding’ Massa’s tyre in my 1st post in this thread…so it was a matter of time that Massa spoke up about being chopped up by his team-mate after he’d taken 6th from the poor-starting Alonso in the middle of the 1st lap.
Spy-gate e-mail blackmails costing $100 Mil in fines…Singapore 2008 crash-gate cheating…now this.
Alonso is running out of top teams to dismantle rather quickly!
The sad thing is that the FIA immediatly told Ferrari that they HAD to give back position. They only took too long to decide how they where going to penalize them, but they told him right away what needed to be done. So he can’t really be angry at the FIA, only at himself or at his team.
I remember being a fan of the driver who managed to keep Schumi in his prime at bay for several laps with a sick car? Where’s the driver who once seemed incapable of error? Even at McLaren he was still a top driver, where’s that gut? Why do Ferrari end up hiring their star driver’s “brothers”?
It seems as if “Shumi” needs to be re-evaluated from an historical perspective in relation to Senna, Clark, Prost, Moss, Fangio et al…and, as a result, Alonso needs to be re-evaluated too.
Fernando’s driving, mental state, and attitute towards teammates/potential teammates has been very poor and he’s left carnage in his wake at McLaren (SpyGate fines) and Renault (CrashGate cheating win) without much to show for it.
Hamilton came along and changed all the Benchmarks and one has to say that Grand Prix racing come back alive again in 2007 after being in a rather Dark Period following Senna’s death at Imola in May of 1994.
The level of talent on the grid now is ridiculously high with only Kimi Raikkonen missing.
JV, Montoya and Coulthard all were replaced by Kubica, Hamilton and Vettel in very quick succession circa ’06/’07. Better talent for “Schuey” and Fernando to deal with in my opinion.
Raikkonen – who went fastatically well in his first ‘Tarmac’ Rally in Bulgaria last week – is missed. Imagine Kimi in the mix this year!?
Being a simple soul who has consumed more red wine in a month than your average GP would prescibe for a lifetime, it seems pretty straightforward from the sofa.
Webber signs an equal number one status contract, but the team transfer the wing that makes no difference to another driver a few minutes before qualifying?
Wrong. And breach of contract.
And as for Snr alonso, who I admired a few years ago, In these days of racing around a few painted lines in the playground, it does matter if the driver goes over the painted line. In the (very) old days it would have been a house and he would be dead. So any other penalty seems to me to be fairly lenient. Alonso should have known that letting Kubica past would negate any penalty.
If you drive every which way over an artist’s impression of a motor racing circuit without any penalty, you have just abolished motor racing.
RT – i’ve never had to re-evaluate MS – didn’t rate him from 93 onwards but hopefully our rather agressive co-comentators might start to get the message-
I’m with you John, well aprt from the wine that is- i miss a great deal of the past motor-racing days, i DON’T miss the deaths and tragedies that befell us, Alonso would have ended up in a bad way had that been years ago -
BUT – Kubica – and i’m a fan and he is doing his job but the drivers aren’t conducive to overtaking – alonso was plainly quicker but not 2 secs quicker, desparation kicks in – voila- all this talk about – and with so many drivers, MS is the worst or best dependingon your viewpoint at defensive driving, overtaking is not encouraged and the penalty harsh -
Racer (& I mean that advisedly) of theDay at Silverstone – a no-brainer, Lewis Hamilton.
Racer (& I mean that advisedly) of the Year so Far – another no-brainer, Lewis Hamilton.
This guy just seems to get better & better and, of course, has always been a racer.
Oh what joy to be alive in this glad morning to see and enjoy this singular talent. And he need no help from dubious people within the team.
So DS, you didn’t rate Schumacher from 93 on. Well bully for you. What an inane comment. You might as well not rate Tiger Woods, Steven Redgrave, Lance Armstrong or Roger Federer.
I seem to remember that when F1 Racing did a vast poll of F1 drivers past and present, Schumacher figured pretty high. But that’s just them and their opinion I guess and your opinion’s just as valid. Yeah right.
Well, Hamilton is making a mockery of Alonso this year, isn’t he?
Whereas Hamilton has, basically, ironed-out his propensity for errors, Alonso’s completely gone the other way!
Hamilton’s completely unhinged Alonso mentally…and he isn’t even in the same team.
Is there even a question that Hamilton would now totally annihilate Alonso in the same car?
Apart of his numerous driving errors (Australia China, Monaco, Canada, England), Alonso’s speaking of the “FIA manipulating” the results in favour of McLaren/Hamilton (Valencia) and has Ferrari running around making up dubious stories surrounding the Silverstone penalty (discredited by Charlie Whiting)…all the while trying to chop up his teammate (China, Britain).
Hamilton took Alonso to the cleaners in “traffic” in Canada – percipitating Ferrari to sadly bad-mouth the new/small teams – and then he blew the Spaniard away at the weekend in a weaker car than the Ferrari.
Hamilton is the man in Formula One now and he’s, effectively, sent Alonso to the psychiatrist!
Incredible!
Fresh comments from HELMUT MARKO on Webber/RBR (following the “clear the air” talks!) from RedBullRacing.com:
“If Mark imagines there is a conspiracy between us and Vettel against him, then he is on the wrong track,” the Austrian and former Grand Prix driver is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.
“If I was Vettel, then I would suspect the opposite. Which car has constantly had problems? Did Mark have a defective spark plug, a loose wheel, a broken brake, a defective chassis, a gearbox problem and the broken nose?
“In comparison, Webber has come out with only a black eye.
“Mark is having a great season, and he has improved big team, but he should not forget that he owes a lot to this team. Where was he two years ago? He could not even dream of Grand Prix wins,” said Marko.
“For us, it really does not matter who is champion, the main thing is that he is sitting in a Red Bull.”
“I don’t know what Webber wants,” he is quoted by Auto Bild.
“The driver who got the new wing was ahead in the championship and faster in the third timed practice. It was a very logical decision,” added Marko.
* * * * *
Talk about Marko throwing gasoline on the fire!
Ha ha! ;)
R Tanveer, Are you kidding me? Raikkonen’s been destroying almost one Citroen PER RALLY. He’s impressive on occasion, but he’s definitely not fantastic. Not yet. You need to finish a rally to be successful at it.
Racer Lewis might have been at Silverstone, but he had absolutely nothing for Webber, who was the racer of the day in my book.
Hugo- as far as i am aware i am still entitled to my opinion and if you don’t agree with that it isn’t my problem, don’t assume that as i don’t agree with you i don’t rate other competitors – but people like Michael, whom i rate very highly as a human being but detest as a driver- and as for your patronising remark, well maybe that says a great deal of you and your perspectives.
Mario, what I meant was that Raikkonen lit up the Split Times quite impressively in his first ever “tarmac” Rally…save, of course, the crash.
What I also meant is that Raikkonen’s driving is missed in F1. The Finn finished only 1 point behind Hamilton in the WDC last Autumn in a car that was no where near what Ferrari had been producing in relation to McLarens.
Martin Whitmarsh said last week that Raikkonen is missed in Grand Prix racing.
Norbert Haug went to visit with Kimi recently at one of Kimi’s homes.
Renault said they’d do anything they could to sign the Finn for 2011.
RBR have Kimi on their books and who is to say Webber will be there in 2010?
When you have the likes of McLaren, Mercedes, Renault and RBR all interested in you, you certainly are no slouch.
Where are the Ferrari drivers in relation to Lewis and Jenson this year?
No where!
Ferrari are in “Spaghetti Culture” (a Lauda-ism) Mode again with their All Italian/All Latin troupe…and Alonso’s feeding their psychosis!
BUT…I don’t think Kimi is interested in what F1 has become, notwithstanding all the interest shown in him.
I wish to make it clear, at the start, I am an Australian. And am trying to put aside my inherent bias towards Mark Webber.
It would seem to me that Christian Horner was in a “no win” situation”.
Perhaps the smarter move, PR wise at least would have been to toss a coin, or, to leave well enough alone. Nevertheless, his primary job is to win both the drivers champoinship, and the constructors championship. He appeared to make a call based on the former, which would have had little bearing on the latter (given that, with the slower wing, Mark was still ahead of Lewis on the grid). As much as, at the time, I thought it was unfair, I think it was the right call, in the context of the driver’s championship. And, since when is F1 fair???
I find it curious that the BBC commentary team missed something which was obvious to me after qualifying- with the slower wing (whatever Christian Horner said, it wouldn’t have been swapped if it was dead equal, nor would it have been fabricated in the first place, let alone be on the cars, so, please don’t insult our intelligence, Christian) Webber was only 0.11 sec (from memory) behind Seb. How many tenths was the wing worth??? And, as such, in the hypothetical world, if both Seb and Mark had drove exactly the same laps with exactly the same wings, who would have had pole?
I do concur with comments about Seb’s spoilt child routine- I recall reading (in an Australian publication, I think) that Seb, not so long ago, when things weren’t going his way, making the statement on his radio “F**k you, I’m going home”, directed at the team. It was my impression that, in the British GP prior to the safety car, Seb was about 1 sec/lap off the pace, which he put down to a problem with the car, which would appear to have miraculously sorted itself out afterwards, if his progress through the field was any indication.
Funnily enough, no comment was made about Seb’s ingratitude in reagrds to that comment- but, hey, it didn’t go to air). Some comment has been made about Mark’s ingratitude, and how Red Bull are doing him the favour of providing him with a graet car. Come, now, there are no favours in F1.
But, he is 22. Ceratinly, he has had a much easier run into F1 than Mark, ( and, at times, Mark’s choices of teams have contributed to that), and, perhaps this will be the difference at the end of the year- there is usually a bee’s d**k between the two of them, either way, in qualifying, however, Mark seems to be the more resilient.Certainly, the “aerobatics” from the previous race seem to have not affected him.
As regards the supposed pro-German/anti Australian bias,I do recall Marko, a decade or so back, in f3000, seeing fit to deprive another Aussie, Craig Lowndes, of an engineer for a good part of the season, then providing one who did not speak English, to the advantage of a bloke called Montoya. Whether he is biased or not, I do not know, because I can’t read his mind, but, it is NOT a good look.
But the question remains, of Red Bull- who is the boss, Marko or Horner?? And, will it impact on their results?? Certainly, Horner is nominally so, but it isn’t a good look when Marko wades in with his comments, and, Horner seems to concur, afterwards.
either way, it would seem that the off track events are far more entertaining than the actual races. I do admit to nodding off in almost all the GPs this year, save the ones which are in the Australian daylight.
MarkR
correction?
“his car was hit from behind by Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren” ?
More accurately …
“pulled over on Hamilton”
or even …
“collided”
Mark Ryan (and to other Aussies and Webber fans):
Deiter Mateschitz seems to have taken the most even-handed, un-biased view on the entire matter.
Here is the Red Bull Chairman’s most recent views ahead of the German GP from German newspaper Kleine Zeitung…
* * * * *
Q: Why does he not believe Red Bull Racing should install a number one?
Mateschitz:
“Because this philosophy is not keeping with my understanding of racing.
“You cannot just program a champion. Our two drivers know that they have to beat a) the other and b) they still need each other to take away as many points as possible from the competition.”
“If you ask me today who will be champion, I say one of our two drivers. But the pits must not interfere, because then the problems begin in earnest.”
“We do not have a number one and a number two driver. Both drivers have cars to exactly the same standard. The problem with the new wing at Silverstone was the first exception.”
Q: Would letting both drivers continue to race head-to-head on equal terms opened up the risk of letting one of the team’s rivals through to win the title?
Mateschitz: “I think it is unlikely, but I would not rule it out. And if it should happen, my God we are talking about racing.
“The image of blood, sweat and tears is not by chance.”
Mateschitz confirmed that he was not consulted by the team about the front wing choice before qualifying, and said the matter had become such a big story because it was communicated incorrectly both internally and to the media.
He also refused to criticise Webber for speaking out about the situation post-race – which was first highlighted when the Australian said over the radio: ‘Not bad for a number two.’
“It was unnecessary but on the other side, Mark has done nothing wrong.”
When asked if it would be better for the team to gag the drivers, he said: “Such a thing would not be our style. Everyone can tell the truth – which is one of the highest virtues of Red Bull.”
* * * * *
So, a very smart, balanced person…no wonder he has been so successful.
The problem is that Helmut Marko is a good friend of Mateschitz…and we ALL KNOW that “good friends” don’t always make the best employees.
Don’t we?
Herr Mateschitz says in this interview that he was not consulted by the team about the wing. but Speed TV’s crew said the decision came from Austria. who made it then, Marko? or is Mateschitz not being totally honest?
all of this sure makes Hockenheim an interesting prospect, doesn’t it?……. and it gives us all something to talk about for three weeks!
For everyone out there wondering who is in charge at Red Bull, the answer is obvious: Dieter Mateschitz.
He owns the team does he not?
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
Sure, he delegates, but if and when a crucial decision needs to be made as the season hots up, I am sure Dieter will get to have his say.
For this reason I believe Webber has to fight for a fair go at Red Bull and more importantly has to keep his pointscore ahead of Vettel lest Dieter gets an opportunity to make a ‘commercial’ decision in favour of his 22 year old ‘investment’ rather than old Mark who is depreciating faster.
Game ON! GO Webber.
Hmmmm,one thing is for sure, Red Bull (the corporation/product) has had plenty of free advertising/publicity, what with Webber’s inadvertent “RedBull Air Race” at Valencia, as well as the “wing-ding” at Silverstone. And, I daresay, far wider than the normal, run-of-the-mill f1 audience.
I wonder whether there has been a sales “spike”?
I can’t help but think that after the ups and downs (that was not an intentional play on words) of this season, it will be interesting to see whether, in season 2011, young Seb has learned, grown and matured from the 2010 experience.
In the vein of “good friends don’t always make the best employees”- aren’t Webber and Horner good mates?? I seem to recall that they have joint ownership of a team in one of the junior formulae. (please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s late here down under, and I’ve been awake for a bit over sixteen hours, with only a few hours sleep prior).
Perhaps Dieter Mateschitz (certainly, his “mate-schitz me”, but, unable to resist another word play, i digress) is being 100% honest. Time will tell on that, though, my first reaction was “well, of course he would say that, wouldn’t he”.
However, honest or not, f1 is about appearances and perceptions, and, in this area, I think they are messing up badly- they have Horner, who is photogenic, and, for all intents and purposes, would appear to be a decent enough guy, and they have the rarely visible, blunt-as-a-pick-axe Marko, who seems to generate (to put it kindly) “controversial” publicity, every time he speaks. In that respect, I don’t think they are managing their image as well as they might.
On a totally different angle, it is a joy to see Williams, and Rubens, lifting their game, bit by bit. It would be wonderful to see them with a more powerful engine.
Which brings up another thought- imagine what this season would look like now, had Red Bull managed to procure Mercedes engines this year??
Either way, I shall shout myself a Red Bull before the German GP- don’t want to nod off again.
Good night all:-)
MarkR
Dear all.
Just had a look at ESPNf1. The source is an “unnamed ‘senior engineer’” at Red Bull, who stated that Webber “did not find the new front wing any more effective than the old one, and only wanted it back when there was one left”!!
He is also quoted as saying “throughout the period when he used the new wing he complained that it did not work any better than the old one”
“Mark simply did not get a good feeling with it, but when there was only one left, Mark absolutely wanted to have it.He did not care about it at all when we still had two new wings.”
This is attributed to a Finnish newspaper, “Turun Sanomat”.
Anyone believe that things are all warm, cozy, and “group hug” at Red Bull?? Or is it just a “Vaseline on the lense” job.
Must be giving McLaren joy.
Well, I am a neutral observer and my thoughts are this:
Webber has cunningly succeeded in currying sympathy for himself following Turkey and, now, Silverstone. The sympathy is somewhat justifiable, especially as regards to Turkey.
The problem is that Webber has actually been the less consistent driver (Bahrain, Australia, Valencia) and had only one reliability problem (5 spot Grid Penalty in Canada).
Vettel, on the other hand, has been more consistent (apart from Turkey (which was obviously his fault mostly)) but has had the lion’s share of gremlins which have cost him a shed-load of points.
Perhaps all those early lost points caused him stress, hence his impetuosity at Istanbul under extreme pressure from Hamilton/McLarens.
Perhaps in his – and RBR’s – mind, Vettel ought to have been well in command of the standings through dint of his quite obvious superiority in the first four Fly-Aways?
Perhaps Webber didn’t really see anything in the front wing upgrade BUT just wanted to ‘have it’ “just becoz” … just so Vettel couldn’t!?
Had Webber not decided to go get his Pilot’s Licence BEFORE sorting out Heikki’s Lotus at Velencia, he – not VET – would have been the lead RBR driver in the Standings.
One has to say that Vettel’s become a Villian only off of his silly gestures after retiring in Istanbul…but the rest of it hasn’t been his doing.
Has it?
Who is to say the mechanic isn’t telling the truth…and who is to say that there isn’t something in what Vettel said: (paraphrasing) “We can now see some people’s true colours.”
[Wonder what Vettel means by these statements?]
Frankly, WEB needs to sort out his consistency issues if he’s going to beat VET…or…he has to HOPE that the German continues to encounter the bulk of RBR 6′s gremlins.
To Chris Casson:
I am not being biased, I am italian. But you will not find in my words each 6 words “Ferrari is the best team”, when Ferrari is the best, in history too. But it is curious, in your words I read, almost in each line, that Hamilton is, is, is…. I admit taht I am Ferrarista, but you can not hide your Hamiltonism. Who’s being biased.
To Mr. Tanveer.- Your words are not so polite, more like a football fan “hurrying” your players, because the engines or colors are not yours. You want to be like olive oil, always over water. Be water my friend.
I hope to see Webber as World Champion at the end of the season.
Dear all
As much as I’d like to argue otherwise, I do agree- Vettel has been the more consistent.
“Mechanic”? Surely they don’t have anything as lowly as a mechanic in f1? :-)
I’d agree that is is possible that Webber only wanted the wing to spoil Seb’s party, and, it would be equally possible that the senior engineer (perhaps he drives trains in his spare time)is from Seb’s side of the garage, and was instructed to leak. I daresay it will be years before we know the full story, if at all.
It is certainly NOT a good look, as far as Red Bull goes….and, compares poorly with McLaren’s management of Lewis and Jensen.
Both the drivers’ and constructors’ championship tables tell the story, don’t they?
Red Bull, though allegedly 30hp down, have an obviously superior chassis, and yet,are running 3rd and 4th in the drivers’ championship, 17 and 24pts (respectively) shy of Lewis, and, 2nd in the constructors’ championship, 29pts shy of McLaren.
The difference- McLaren don’t have many glitches when the flag drops, and, seem to be managing the relationship between their drivers far more skilfully.
The sad part (for me, at least)is that this soap opera is a poor substitute for rivetting racing with such luxuries as… overtaking.
I grew up in Bathurst, home of Mt panorama, my father worked in the motor industry for all of my childhood, and I’m a motor racing devotee, have been for the past 45 years- in an earlier entry, I mentioned “nodding off” during the British GP. (Perhaps I should ingest a Red Bull prior to the start). That Webber is finally in acompetitive car certainly has led to a renewed interest in F1, but, if I factor that out of the equation, for the most part, it is relatively boring.
Hopefully, the German GP will have the high drama on the track, for a change.
Cheers
MarkR
Dear Mr Tanveer,
I think you are being a bit cute describing yourself as a neutral observer. I well remember your early season anti-Webber anti-Schumacher pro-Kimi rants and it appears to me that you are sweating on any anti-Webber opportunities to peddle your biased views. The silence for you was deafening upon any Webber successes apart from a brief comment post Monaco that must have been for you like having a tooth pulled..
You were wrong about Webber and so far correct about Schumacher and as for Kimi he was Mr Inconsistency in my view.
Mark in Australia:
You’re giving McLaren credit for “managing” Lewis V Jenson “more skillfully”…but you have to admit that it didn’t simply happen overnight.
Do you recall Alonso-Hamilton only 3 seasons ago?
And, prior to that, do you recall something even bigger: Senna V Prost?
Well, RBR, by comparison, have had no such history at the very sharp end.
RBR are learning on the fly and I, for one, say give them some time. Indeed, give them credit for dismantling the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes/Brawn, Alonso and Schumacher!
Lastly, i’d like to defend the 2010 season.
For me it’s been a Vintage Grand Prix year, highlighted by our Canadian GP which was enthralling from an attendee’s perspective!
Cheers.
John Read, Sir:
I have taken my hat off to Webber and I came down VERY HARD on Helmut Marko in the Turkey blogs (see for yourself).
In another past post in recent weeks I said I’ve “become a Webber fan since Turkey”.
However, i’m not going to let my new found admiration for Webber’s pace and determination colour my view on the fact that he has been less consistent than Vettel…and that Kimi was more consistent than Webber has been.
Kimi was within a few points of Webber’s 4th place in the 2009 Standings going into Brazil in a Ferrari F60 which was NO WHERE NEAR the RBR5…until Webber chopped him on Lap 1 at Interlagos when Kimi made a move for a spot which ultimately became the winning position in the Grand Prix.
Again, it was a poor, underdeveloped F60 v RBR5!
That’s all I need to know about Kimi v Mark.
Webber ought to be a lot higher in the Championship…but his poor races in Bahrain, Australia and Valencia has meant that he’s behind two drivers who by no means have had a car to compete directly against the fastest package in Formula One right now.
Cheers.
PS
Wishing Mark the best for Hockenheim!