F1 Fanatic

I have never thought of Dietrich Mateschitz as the problem regarding why Vettel isn’t liked but the constant presence of Helmet Marko in Vettel’s side of the garage could irk people. It does look like Vettel has ‘his man’ right in the heart of the RBR team, which might be seen as a clear advantage over his team mate. The perception that Vettel is the favoured one may well alienate some fans.

Every driver has overly aggressive fans to be fair though. Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso are all the same, and it’s annoying to be attacked by any of them for no sensible reason. I put forward my view the other day that being fastest in practice counts for nothing in a driver of the weekend vote, which is completely true, and was told that if Hamilton and Vettel’s weekends were reversed, I would have voted for Hamilton due to him topping practice. I don’t appreciate that. But by the same measure, despite being a fan of both Hamilton and Button, in the past I have been accused of hating those drivers too. This is not unique to fans of Vettel.

@Ginola14 Hardly seen at races? He’s at over 50% of the races actually. However he doesn’t like publicity, preferring to stay quiet. As such, he generally isn’t seen. But yes, it’s understandable that he and his fanhood of Webber are not well known.

Apparently he’s been instrumental in keeping Webber in the team.

I wouldn’t call Mateschitz a Webber “Fanboy”. I think it’s more that he appreciates that without Webber, Red Bull probably wouldn’t be the team they are today, and therefore, he has a lot of respect for him and wants to reward him with the option of continuing on in the team.

@ginola14

It is also very peculiar how as soon as Webber signed a 2013 contract extension after being courted by Ferrari (prompting Red Bull to offer him a 2013 deal in haste), he started to have “issues” with his car and became so uncompetitive compared to Vettel. Before that, he had delivered 2 fine wins and scored more points compared to Golden Boy.

Although Webber has been there since 2007, why does no-one take note of the even more experienced Coulthard, who worked with the team since 2005?

Also before (and after the summer break), Webber hadn’t delivered any other podiums. In fact, I can only recall 3 races all year where he has been faster than Vettel- Monaco, Britain and China.

Furthermore, why is it peculiar that Webber can have a dip in form in comparison to Vettel? Webber’s only just recovered from a season-and-a-half-long “dip in form”, from mid 2010 to the end of 2011.

@David-A

Although Webber has been there since 2007, why does no-one take note of the even more experienced Coulthard, who worked with the team since 2005?

I’m not quite sure how does DC figure in this discussion since we’re not judging the drivers by how far back in time they had started with the team. or who was there from its infancy.

Up to and including Britain 2012, there was 9 races. Taking the rain-hit Malaysia equation, Vettel was faster than Webber in the races 5 to 3 times – hardly a walloping you seem to insinuate.

Agreed that 2011 was a horrible year for Webber even taking into account the car didn’t suit him.
I don’t think he went to sleep in the 2nd half of 2010 like you said though. While his last win at Hungary that year was in August, he was still scoring podium finishes and serious points thereafter although his championship was slowly being chipped away. He choked at Korea and Abu Dhabi to be fair though. A Korean podium was easily attainable and would have won him the title but for his mistake on a wet track.

@ginola14 I think it’s more that the few races after the summer break aren’t really Mark’s strength circuits. He’s never done very well at places like Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Monza etc

Webber’s problem has never been speed – at tracks he likes he’s very fast. I’ve never known Webber to not put a strong performance at Monaco/Sepang/Barcelona, for example.

But he’s inconsistent in that, in my view, he’s too picky a driver – at the tracks he’s happy at he’s quick. Otherwise he’s not