New video shows Webber’s controversial ‘taxi ride’

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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This new video shot by a fan at the Singapore Grand Prix shows the moment after Sunday’s race when Mark Webber earned himself a reprimand – and consequently a ten-place grid penalty – in more detail.

Webber was judged to have re-entered the track on foot without obtaining permission from a marshal beforehand.

Article 30.9 of the Sporting Regulations states: “During the period commencing fifteen minutes prior to and ending five minutes after every practice session and the period between the commencement of the formation lap which immediately precedes the race and the time when the last car enters the parc ferme, no one is allowed on the track, the pit entry or the pit exit with the exception of […] drivers when driving or on foot, having first received permission to do so from a marshal.”

Fernando Alonso was also given a reprimand for stopping on the racing line as he picked Webber up, forcing the two Mercedes drivers to take avoiding action, as also shown in the video.

Webber criticised the stewards’ decision to reprimand him for his action, calling it “comical”. It was his third reprimand of the year which means he automatically receives a ten-place grid penalty for the next race in Korea.

Thanks to @Andae23 for the tip.

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Image © Red Bull/Getty

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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97 comments on “New video shows Webber’s controversial ‘taxi ride’”

  1. My… it did look scarier now. I totally take back all I said to the stewards at that moment.

    Still, Alonso’s intention was good. He just shouldn’t have stopped in the middle of the track.

    1. I think he probably would have moved to the outside wall of the track if Kimi had not also had the same idea to stop, therefore blocking him from doing so. I’d love to see an onboard from Rosberg’s car. All that said it was a fair penalty. It was only a reprimand, it was just complained about a lot as Webber already had two, this triggering a 10 place drop.

      1. Exactly. It was unlucky for Webber, but the penalty was a reprimand, not the place drop. It was totally called for.

      2. @nick-uk, as you say the onboard from Rosbergs car is crucial, I’m pretty sure Rosberg could see Webber on the track before he entered the corner. There are so many goody-goodies, on this site telling a guy who flies cars upside down for a living that any perceived risk is unacceptable and the chief stewards comment comes down to a case of ” It’s allright when I do it but not when you do it” the picture of Warwick riding a-top a Ferrari looks far more precarious than than Webbers perch.

        1. I’m pretty sure Rosberg could see Webber on the track before he entered the corner

          Rosberg can see through walls??

          1. He’s superman, didn’t you know ?

          2. Webber started his run onto the track from the run-off area which is a straight part of the track from which oncoming cars were approaching the 90 deg. corner, much has been made of the speed but that also was the speed travelled down pit-lane until a few races ago.

          3. @shrieker

            He’s superman, didn’t you know ?

            I thought he’s a pop singer… if you know what i mean :)

        2. Even if Rosberg saw Webber I very much doubt he was expecting Mark to run around the back of Alonso’s car and into his path.

          1. But he didn’t run into his path, did he ?

          2. Yes, that’s why Rosberg ended up taking a non-standard path. The normal path was dangerous. Rosberg was going to take the normal path BUT there was a car and human in the way, so he turned the wheel hard and took avoiding action.

            So yes, Webber ran into his path causing him to change his path.

        3. I agree with you. It didn’t look dangerous. Those drivers have reflexes of superhumans. The first Mercedes had no trouble getting around. And Mark is highly anti-nanny state. If he had been bowled over by the mercedes he’d have blamed no one but himself.

          I’m disappointed how the media, including this site, have made such an issue of this. There’s been little discussion of what was was a great race. Plenty of overtaking, plenty of action.

          1. It’s not a “nanny state” issue when you’re endangering others.

            Do you also argue for people wandering onto motorways or in front of trains?

    2. i don’t see what all fuss is about, like DC says drivers are not that stupid to run ppl over even in cool down lap, while i agree the place car was stopped is not ideal, he couldn’t have stopped anywhere else, since kimi was on his right he couldn’t gone straight to run over area, and once he slowed down, he coudn’t go over kerbs, because even an idiot will know slow f1 car will get stuck on kerbs. only place he could have stopped is right there or further down after kerbs in hindsight its easy decision.

      1. It’s quite simple, really. If you can’t stop safely, don’t stop at all. There are other drivers behind you who can and will.

  2. Well, that looks like a bloody stupid move by Mark (and Fernando), I don’t see how he has any basis for complaining.

  3. Nico went by incredibly close !

    I reckon had Kimi not been alongside Fernando, he’d probably had stopped on the other side of the kerb…

    1. with this view, Webber can call himself lucky to keep his legs… Nico was scary close

      1. @celeste, yes this is why so many of the pit crew are amputees.

        1. Oops, wrong place for that comment, sorry. Perhaps someone can delete it?

          1. This comment is in the wrong place check the date posted, OY Keef!

        2. To be fair he is a grown man he was the only one gonna get hurt as everyone was strapped into the safest cars in the world his choice his problem if he gets hurt

        3. @hohum @malaclypse

          The difference is that in the pitlane you expect the car to come, and drivers know there are people standing there.

          Here, Lewis and Nico had no idea what was going on. No one should be walking around the track there.

          That the sport is dangerious is an invalid argument here. So what? does it mean that people can walk by the track with cars going by?

          1. @fer-no65
            Like I said, my comment should belong under splittimes post further down the list.
            But anyway, since we’re now talking about it… I think you got me wrong. I’m totally on your side :)
            Again: I said the sport is dangerous enough because of what happens during regular racing, so we don’t need people running across the track for no reason.

        4. @hohum not the same. Drivers know the pit crew is there and they are stopping the car. Nico and Hamilton didn´t expect Weber running in the middle of a track in the exit of a blind corner.

  4. Incredibly stupid.

  5. Absolutely dangerous as others have said. Fernando certainly should have stopped closer to marks car, but Kimi was on the inside making it a bit difficult. Either way, not smart.

    1. Guess Kimi was ready to give a ride to webber but the latter just ignore him! so he wasn’t need others to give him a ride only failonso, his only F1 friend. Well, they wanted to stage the show of friendship but screwed up and then webber tried to stage the show as a drama! ridiculous!

  6. Nico went by close to him because he wanted… not because he was at the limit of grip of the car, that went by so close… I think people is making a storm in a cup of water…

    1. Nico went by close to him because he wanted

      That doesn’t really make much sense.

      1. When nico goes by webber, he’s going almost straight, he even made a evasive manouver (wich he would if he needed)… They are F1 drivers, used to go with their car inches from the pit crew… So it kinda makes sense now…

      2. And the way Hamilton say’s that it was “scary” is realy a overstatement… he went by in the other side, nowere near hitting the ferrari… But oh… I remember… Hamilton drives for mercedes, and both Mercedes and Hamilton are driving for a championship position against Ferrari, Alonso and Webber… That’s the only reason it was “scary”…

        Nico would be the one that would have something to say… But he didn’t say much

        1. It was scary for him because he drove where Webber was walking just seconds prior. Had he gotten there two seconds earlier, we would have a very badly injured Mark Webber right now.

          1. Webber could see the approaching cars before he ran onto the track, so he would have waited for Lewis to pass had he been 2 seconds further down the track, this is indeed a storm in a teacup.

          2. yep! very true!
            It looked scary not only to Ham I guess but to Rosberg too taking into account Nico was extremely close to webber

        2. Wow someone doesn’t like Hamilton… seriously hes done nothing wrong at all. He went round a blind corner and had to avoid a parked car which he wouldn’t have been expecting at all. I know these are the best drivers in the world but they are still human and can still be shocked by things they don’t expect. I really don’t think he was pushing for a penalty but that point really has nothing to do with it. The marshals would have brought the point up and footage would have been reviewed regardless of Hamilton’s comments. It’s not like the Fia said ” let’s let lewis decide what happens”. If Hamilton said everything was fine or not commented the Fia would still have issued the reprimand so I think you have missed the point here.

          1. Lewis has I believe run out of fuel on the inlap so he more than others should be aware that the inlap is not a race lap.

        3. @oliveiraz33 Lewis didn’t say it was “scary”. He said:

          I was doing my in-lap, came around the corner and Fernando was there, and I was really shocked

          Rosberg saw Webber running onto the track, so he expected something to be there. Lewis didn’t see that, so he wasn’t prepared to see a car parked in the middle of the track. He was surprised. Whoop-dee-doo. Anti-Ferrari and anti-Red Bull conspiracy solved.

    2. @oliveiraz33 I think you are on to something here.

      From this angle, it looks like Kimi was going to pick Webber up himself but noticed Nando was going to do it, so he moved on. Then, Webber and Nico saw each other, Webber got on Nando’s car, and Nico moved on. Lastly, after arriving at the corner and seeing the Ferrari in front, Lewis begrudgingly got out of the way.

      No tire smoke, no evasive action, no panic – hardly the death trap that other commenters have described. I know this puts me in the minority but, after seeing this, my opinion on the penalty has changed.

  7. Seeing Rosberg driving past whilst Webber was jumping on board Alonso’s car was quite scary to watch.

    1. While the Gesture from Alonso was great and the the moment was fun to watch on TV, it was definitely scarier than i initially thought when I watch this video.

  8. Seeing videos like this, I can’t understand how anyone can complain about the penalty.

    I was against it at first, too, but when you see someone running on the track while there’s still cars going around and another driver stopping IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK, you can clearly see that it was the right decision by the stewards.

  9. Webber shouldn’t have just run on like that, bit silly of him considering he’s the oldest driver on the grid.

    Strange to see all those cheers for Alonso too, 3-4 years ago he was probably the most hated driver on the grid. Funny how times change.

    1. It was only a week or so ago Alonso was getting lynched , the week before it was massa , before that Sutil , this week is Webbers turn .
      I would hope that Webber would say ” fair cop mate , i jumped in at the wrong spot, sorry , wont happen again”

  10. I think it was a nice gesture by intent, but a dangerous manoeuvre in reality. If he’d pulled off the track I’d have no issue, but the way in which it was executed was pretty reckless.

  11. He got away lightly with a reprimand and subsequent ten place grid drop, he could have lost his life there. And pretty bone-headed by Alonso also. I suspect if it had been Maldonado stopping in a blind corner and not a driver more or less in the title race, he’d have received a grid drop as well.

    1. he could have lost his life there

      These are the best drivers in the world and they do know how to steer around obstacles.

      Why all the hate from the Vettel fans?

      1. I’d really love to know how you discerned “hate” in the words “he could have lost his life there”.

        We saw a couple of these best drivers in the world, who know how to steer around obstacles, drive their cars into a wall. And they were expecting the wall to be there – they were not expecting to see a car parked in the middle of a turn and a man running across the track.

        I won’t even ask where that “Vettel fan” crack came from or what you imagine it has to do with the issue at hand.

        1. You actually know that they were doing around 80km/h which is exactly the same speed at which they enter into a pitbox with 14 people with only inches to spare?

          The comparison is absurd, 80km/h is basically walking speed for them and quite a bit far off from their limits and the car’s, those walls are coming to them when they are driving to the very edge of what they and their machines are capable of.

          The warning was fair, the subsequent 10-place drop is just bad timing. Nobody would’ve said anything about this if it was only Webber’s second. Get over it.

          1. pitlane is 60

          2. Pit lane speed is 80km/h. Nobody drives into the pit box at that speed. The pit box is a carefully choreographed situation. It does not involve members of the pit crew randomly jumping in front of the car. If a member of the pit crew did do such a thing he would be risk of serious injury (even at speeds well below 80kmph) and his team would receive a reprimand.

            A member of the Lotus pit crew was seen working on Grosjeans completely stationary car while not wearing a helmet. Lotus were reprimanded as a result.

            The warning was fair, the subsequent 10-place drop is just bad timing.

            Exactly. So the people fuming about the grid drop are the ones who need to “get over it”.

  12. Is it no longer possible to summon a driver to the steward’s office for a mere talking-to?
    You wag a finger, show the video (if you have it) and tell ’em not to do it again.
    The smart judge knows when to apply sanctions and when to apply moral authority.
    I’ll repeat what I said earlier: If your aim is solely safety, shut down F1 entirely.
    Driving cars at 200 mph is inherently dangerous and therefor must be stopped.

    1. You mitigate the danger by having safety rules, and by punishing people who break them.

    2. This ‘was’ a simple stern-talking too/rap on the knuckles. That’s what a reprimand is.

      The issue is all the drivers voted for the 3-strikes and you’ve got a 10-place penalty after Grosjean & Maldonaldo’s performances in 2012. The stewards had no choice but to enforce it.

  13. I think it’s particularly hilarious that Alonso managed to stop, pick up Webber and drive off again before Massa got round! Shows how far ahead he was even on the slow down lap!

    1. I have information from 1000000000 sources that Massa knew that Webber needs a ride so he slowed down to not take him, we all know Massa only cares about himself now…. :))

    2. looks like you didn’t notice it was Kimi closer and in more safe position for webber…but webber preferred his beloved friend not the closer car! it was like a staged show!

      Massa!? You lost the point of this topic!

  14. Can someone remind me which driver was once killed after running over a marshall carrying a fire extinguisher? Cars came round that bend at 100kmh, so 60mph. Nico goes one side of the Ferrari, Lewis the other. Would you step onto an A road (UK users only) after a blind bend not knowing where the traffic is? Would you park there? Sid Watkins once asked what was more important, having a Senna or a Tamburello. Something similar might apply here. Risk : benefit ratio far too high.

    1. cant remember which driver but i have seen the footage and its horrible.

      I said before and after the canada incident there we have had so many near misses(and not so in canada) due to rules not being enforced etc(in that case incorrect use of a forklift). Since then we have had the wheel incident at germany and now this. We are a disaster waiting to happen. The cars are amazingly safe, tracks mostly are too. Its let down by not enough money and effort being put in else where.

      In WSBK(germany) and moto gp (GB) we had 2 occasion in one day that marshalls run towards an incident despite the race track still being very live. Both occasions were put down by the journalists at the time as ‘they were lucky to jump out the way, well done’ NO not well done, what are you doing more like. Things need to be tightened and track officals/marshals need to be fully paid and professional and therefore accountable.

      Its not like the sport cant afford it. But what it cant afford is live images of a decapitated body. No one needs that.

      1. Tom Pryce was the driver that was hit by the fire extinguisher that a marshal was carrying.

    2. Excellent point. Everyone who support’s Webber’s actions seems to be pointing to the fact that he’s a grown man, can do what he likes, and that the other drivers should have the reactions to avoid him.
      Incidents like the one you’re referring to (the deaths of Fredrik Jansen van Vuuren and Tom Pryce) are evidence that you really can’t be too careful when it comes to running out onto a live race track. Tom Pryce had lightening reactions but that didn’t save his life, Fredrik was a grown man able to make sensible decisions but he made a bad decision and it cost him his life.

      I’m a fan of Webber, and even though he obviously wouldn’t deliberately put himself or others at risk, it’s really disappointing that he can’t admit that this was a stupid thing to do and the stewards were right to think about safety and issue him a reprimand.

    3. @splittimes, but Webber did know where the traffic was, he was opposite the apex of the corner when he hailed his cab.

    4. Exactly this, @splittimes. I’m very happy to see that many users here still have reasonable opinions about people running across a live race track for, well, no good reason.
      F1 is still dangerous. You can allmost be killed by a car flying on your head (like Alonso in Spa last year) or by a tyre that hits you while working in pits (like on the Nürburgring this year). But those incidents at least are “racing incidents” in the true sense of the word. Webbers move wasn’t. He was out of the race, he was safe – and than decided to run onto the track. If you compare it to the Pryce/van Vuuren accident, you can at least say that van Vuuren was crossing the track because he wanted to help and do his job. Webber was endangering himself and others just because his big ego. Why people out there find that move cool or romantic or herolike is baffling to me.
      Having said this, I think that a reprimand is a very mild penalty. If it would have been a race ban it would be totally ok to me.

  15. Question: Were the marshalls waving Yellow flags in the area? At least from this video I did not see any. I’d assume they were waved… But if not, the marshalls could be responsible here too….

    1. No, they are not responsible. It’s common that the marshalls wava all the flags they have, just to cheer to the drivers. So, there are no flags to warn drivers in the cool down lap.

  16. Lol,Everyone was like,WOW the stewards are a bunch of idiots,and they have made the sport even less popular,ohh why,Webber,until they saw this video………and are like fill stupid when they see this video and read there previous post from the “Webber to get grid penalty after lift from Alonso”.

  17. Alonso stopping in that particular location was more dangerous to more drivers than what Webber did.

  18. I’m really not sure how webber can call that “comical” by the stewards. that is nothing to laugh about. more like pure stupid of webber to think that was “ok”.

    anyone else notice the cheers for vettel as he passed?

  19. Agreed, Webber deserved the reprimand, but I think 3 reprimands should equal 5 place penalty, not 10

    1. This is what the drivers themselves voted for. Webber should just suck it up and not complain, he was there when it was decided. But I’m sure Webber didn’t think he’d be such an idiot to collect three reprimands himself…

  20. For argument’s sake, i wonder if Fernando stopped to pick up Mark because Kimi didn’t or couldn’t. if kimi did, then the whole chain of events may not have happened ie Fernando having to stop in the middle, Mark having to run in the middle of the track, both drivers rating a reprimand etc…

    1. Kimis placement was unfortunate but Webber was not unsighted from his position at the entrance of the slip-road.

  21. why are we even still talking about this? Is F1 these days that boring that we talk about an inocuos incident for days?
    …oh sorry indeed it is…

    1. Spot on Jono. It’s sad isn’t it.

  22. After watching THIS video if anyone is still supporting Webber for his actions, they have got tooo much of love Webber. Nico was so close to him. It was freaking scary. Webber should feel blessed nothing tragic happened there.

  23. Perfectly normal, nothing to worry about. Move on.

  24. Thanks @keithcollantine . That explains a lot . Wow , What was Webber thinking ? He could have just shown his thumb from the corner of the track if he’d wanted a lift badly .

  25. “Oh my god so scary and dangerous, thrown them both out of the sport!” F1 is pathetic. Just to compound the most boring race of the year they give Webs a penalty for one of the only things that gave any entertainment to the paying public all Sunday. Shameful.

    1. exactly, as if webber needed anymore of a handicap to add to his poor starts and KERS issues, now he’s starting 10 positions behind der wunderkid. It wouldnt have been dangerous if doing doughnuts/smoking up tyres, picking up your national flag or doing the moonwalk on your marrussia (if you won the race) were allowed then drivers would slow down on the parade lap…think outside the square(rules) people!

  26. First things First…I agree with the penalty due to safty reasons….But this matter has been a little over blown. Lewis was no where near Mark or was carrying that speed where he could have hit the Ferrari, unless he was distracted ( No i am not A Lewis Hater). If anything it should have been Nico complaining and after looking at the video the second time, it does not even look as scary. Nico saw Mark well before so i guess he was prepared. Still the crowd enjoyed it and so did I. Its a shame Mark has to take that 10 place grid penalty.

  27. It looks close on vid, but to be honest there isn’t one among us that pilots an F1 car. If his actions were so stupid why as to deserve a reprimand, then the FIA is essentially saying that the best drivers in the world shouldn’t take chances. He trusted them to get out of the way. You can’t say more than that.

    1. To wit: I’m sure that under current FIA regs that Webber would have still been reprimanded had he been skewered on the nose of a Mercedes. I’ve now become a fan of Mark forever! Screw F1 and go racing for real!

    2. He trusted them to get out of the way. You can’t say more than that.

      That’s extremely flawed logic. They being F1 drivers doesn’t make them perfect, nor inmune to criticism. Just because “he trusted them” it doesn’t make it any less risky.

      If his actions were so stupid why as to deserve a reprimand, then the FIA is essentially saying that the best drivers in the world shouldn’t take chances.

      They shouldn’t take potentially life-risking changes. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a huge set of rules about how drivers should behave. Just last year we saw Grosjean being banned from a race because of how reckless his driving was.

      You’re being far from rational if you believe that being a F1 driver somehow is a carte blanche to make whatever you want, regardless of how risky it is.

      1. “a huge set of rules about how drivers should behave.”

        You’re the one not being rational.

        1. Moreover, Motorsports aren’t inherently rational.

          1. “I think my way of living when I was driving would be difficult today. I was entirely responsible about my driving, and never misbehaved there, but after that, when the job was done, I led a fairly laidback lifestyle. I think modern sponsors in this day and age would find that a bit of a strain, and it would not be to my advantage in my career. People would hesitate before hiring me. And I would probably have to curb my behaviour and certainly put on a different public face.

            Quote From today’s roundup.

            What Hunt is saying here is that he’d have to kiss the bottoms of his sponsors, the FIA and essentially be untrue to himself. I’m not gonna live that way, you shouldn’t either.

        2. It’s the way it is, and has been that way for a long time now. If you don’t like it, you’re free to watch other sports. But that’s F1. This is nothing new not surprising.

  28. I can’t believe Webber would call it comical to reprimand looking at the video it should of been harsher imo.

  29. For some reason I’m put in mind of Alonso not seeing the yellows and running into Webber’s wreckage in Brazil all those years ago. I think if Alonso hadn’t given Webber a lift, DC would have won this race… ;)

  30. Isn’t it nice to think that when Webber and Alonso are both senior citizens reminiscing that they will have something to laugh about and get riled over? They may yet concede that it wasn’t the smartest thing that either of them have ever done, but at least no one got hurt… It was a classic F1 moment- dangerous, spontaneous, and divisive. I already miss him.

  31. The fact that this is the overriding news to continue from the GP isn’t exactly a good reflection of the race.

    Can we not move on from this. We get it. Yes, it is dangerous to run around on a race track, or stop with other moving cars present.

    F1 is in trouble if this is still news on a Wednesday.

  32. @muzbye

    He’s more like DiCaprio’s evil twin :)

  33. Formula One has been systematically Gutted, de Balled, Trussed, Tied and sprinkled with Disney Dust.
    How I long for the days of leather helmets, champaign every where, fans mobbing the pits, real jet set drivers, who earn their drive, what have you frightened little men with big hats done to a once great sport. Death is not possible with out life and if you want to limit your chances of the former become an arm chair critic and roar your silly little heads off debating how short the girls skirts should be, then go back to your mousy world feeling big and brave, you ant like accountants!

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