To me, the only controversy regarding first and second fiddle placings at Red Bull last year was that one race that involved the new front wing that SV got, taken from MW’s car…reasons given…SV did better with (liked better) the new wing than MW, SV was leading the WDC chase at that point, and only one wing between them, so SV got it…MW went on the win the race and state, ‘not bad for a number two, eh’? …imho, Red Bull was only guilty of mismanaging their desicion and not ensuring MW didn’t feel slighted…but I don’t think it was blatant and maliscious holding back of MW for the sake of favouring SV…by Horner’s comments, had MW been ahead of SV in points at that particular time, MW would have gotten the wing…Horner could not win with only one wing to distribute come race day…other than to give neither driver said wing I suppose.
Fast forward to the final race, and there MW sat with every bit the WDC shot that SV had…can we really say MW was second fiddle to SV last year? Methinks if that was the case SV would have been given more ‘new wings’ etc in the last half of the season to ensure MW did not have the WDC shot that SV did.
So there’s two scenarios this year for me…MW once again has every bit the shot that SV does, or he doesn’t and he will make sure the world knows it, which in my eyes will shade any success SV has this year because I personally do no believe in one driver being favoured over another until near the end of the season when the math might only make sense to do that, and when the lesser point driver can resign himself to the fact that he had a fair shot, it didn’t work out for him, and now his job as a team player is not to block for his teammate, but to certainly not rob points from him.
So as long as MW has a legitimately fair shot this year, I don’t see why he wouldn’t want to be at Red Bull for 2012 if contracts allow and if Red Bull would want to retain him. The car will likely still be very good. The options for MW might be fairly limited. If he is a second fiddle this year, he certainly won’t want to be there next year, and any option where he won’t be second fiddle will be fine, assuming he doesn’t retire. Perhaps a good option for 2012 will be Renault…
