Webber makes new claim of Vettel favouritism

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Mark Webber reveals there was another instance of Sebastian Vettel being given preference for performance upgrades at Red Bull before the notorious Silverstone 2010 episode.

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Mark Webber says Red Bull F1 team had agenda to keep Sebastian Vettel happy (ABC)

"I've just won the previous two grands prix from start to finish and then a new rear wing arrives and goes over to the other side of the garage. And I know for a fact the mechanics were furious."

Has Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari future already been decided? (BBC)

"When he blamed the team publicly for (failing to reach Q2 in Austria), Arrivabene took him aside for a stern conversation to make it clear he did not want to hear that again."

Raikkonen: I still love F1 (Sky)

"I wouldn’t be here today or at any race if I didn’t (love F1). But it’s not such good fun when you have weekends like last weekend."

F1 should make 'huge' wheel size jump (Autosport)

"It is a very big visible change that stands out and people will look at that and go 'phwoar, that's a tyre!'"

F1 chiefs in fresh push to get rid of 'driver aids' (Motorsport)

"Todt said: 'All driver aids we can ban, we should do it. Although the engineers, they are smart people, so they will try to find a way to interpret that.'"

Australian Grand Prix dogged by leadership uncertainty (The Age)

"The uncertainty has come to the attention of formula one boss Bernie Ecclestone who, according to one source, is 'very jumpy' about the leadership."

Vettel unconcerned by dwindling German driver numbers (Crash)

"In Germany, there's one of the strongest championship in the whole of Europe with the German kart championship for juniors and for seniors. Seniors are considered guys from 15 years to probably 18 years old so I'm not worried."

Valtteri's Austrian GP blog (Williams)

"We had a pretty long debrief after the race and then I stayed in Spielberg for the test, as we had quite a few things to try and this being the only day of testing I’ll have all season, I wanted to get as much running done as possible."

Hahn sure to drive a hard bargain in quest for Formula One (Reuters)

"Hahn's negotiating skills will come as no surprise to Ecclestone. The pair first crossed swords more than a decade ago, when Hahn won Formula One broadcasting rights for his boss and mentor Kirch despite Ecclestone's best efforts."

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Comment of the day

We had several comments from readers who attended last weekend’s Formula E double-header in London who offered views on how much they enjoyed it as a series in its own right and as a potential rival to Formula One:

I was there at Battersea Park yesterday between turn five and six. Watching the cars go through there was really good, especially watching the drivers deal with the cars being unsettled by the bump in the middle of the braking zone.

I have been watching it fairly casually on the TV and been mildly amused and I’m sure it has a bright future as it develops.

Track-side could benefit from a few improvements, notwithstanding the points already raised about fanboost. General admission tickets were just shy of £30, which seems reasonable on the face of it. However, with no banking it does make it very difficult to find a position to see the cars clearly. Further to this, there are no support races, so you have practice sessions, break, qualifying and then a three-hour break before a 40-minute race. Compare that to a ticket for a top line event at Brands Hatch with a full day of racing and plenty of good vantage points for example and all of a sudden the cost of a ticket doesn’t seem so reasonable. The concessions were also very expensive, again compared to Brands Hatch not very good value at all.

So I think this series has a lot of potential, but the live experience needs a lot of work. The obsession with street circuits, lack of support races and pricing structure could well be it’s undoing.
Dan (@Danstimo)

From the forum

Snapshot

Carlos Sainz Jnr drove a Red Bull around the Zocalo in Mexico City over the weekend to promote F1’s return to Mexico in November.

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On this day in F1

Happy birthday to former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher who is 40 today.

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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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114 comments on “Webber makes new claim of Vettel favouritism”

  1. I know this may not mean much, but Red Bull could’ve let Max drive around Mexico City to promote F1 there. I’m sure that most, if not all F1 drivers who get given that chance are very grateful for it especially a Red Bull junior doing that in the Red Bull car. So I’m hoping that this demonstration run for Carlos isn’t just an indication that Red Bull must like him, but also a big confidence boost for Carlos too, as he is an amazing talent and I for one don’t want to see him become another ‘forgotten driver’.

    1. Actually, maybe it means that since they have a driver that speak spanish and could adress the audience in the language, they decided to use that driver…

      1. Very good point there @celeste. Makes huge sense to bring a driver who can easily communicate with the local fans.

    2. It doesn’t mean anything. Max did a demo show at Zandvoort with Red Bull. @mattypf1

      1. I must add: Max was doing a demo show at Zandvoort while Carlos was at Mexico. That’s why it doesn’t mean anything.

        1. Yes. It doesn’t mean a thing.

      2. Yep, although Sainz did another run in Peru a couple of weeks ago, but yeah not a big deal.
        By the way Ricciardo was also at the event in Mexico, at some point there were 2 RB7s going around at the same time! wish I was there :(

        1. I was at the demo at Zandvoort amd I was happy he was here! Drove in a RB8 in Toro Rosso colours together with his dad Jos in a 2001 Minardi. Very special sight I must say. Jos in the V10 outdragged Max in the V8 on the straight haha.

          There where older Minardi’s and Jean Alesi’s Ferrari from 93 too! Lots of Ferraris, Lambos, Bugattis etc. It was called Italia a Zandvoort

          1. Jos in the V10 outdragged Max in the V8 on the straight haha

            lol I’m not surprised, now that I remember didn’t Max crash as well? I remember he crashed before the season started and (again) people claimed he wasn’t ready for F1 etc

          2. No he didn’t crash or go off or anything.

            Last august he did a demo in the city centre of Rotterdam and he crashed awkwardly at 5mph, clipping his wing while making a U-turn. Nothing big. I thought it was really silly of RedBull because that demo was his very first outing in a F1 car…. not even had done a straightline test or anything. The kid was 16yrs old halfway through his first year out of karts and then debut in F1 in front of thousands of people.

            This demo was really cool though, Max did 4 runs during the day. One of which with his dad and also Arie Luyendijk and Jan Lammers were driving. There were spots of rain all day but Max almost broke the 14yr old lap record. It was a great day!

    3. The “Mexico” stickers on the bargeboards, full-time sponsorship or just for the showrun?

  2. I don’t care much what size tyre F1 uses, I just want a tyre that works and allows drivers to push to and challenge the car ahead.

    1. Exactly, diameter means so little, what I want is a wide tire with lots of grip!

    2. Amen.

    3. Exactly. Its pointless.

    4. I’m not sure if the people writing the rules know what F1 fans want… looks like they intend to please Hollywood in lieu of racing fans.

  3. I watched the doco on Mark Webber last night. An amazing insight and has left me with the feeling that I con’t wait to read his book. A must watch piece for everyone to watch.

    1. Could you elaborate in the insight? The chances of the documentary making it to my country are 0%

      1. BitTorrent my friend…

        1. Nah, I´m not that much into Mark as to saturate my Internet conection…

          1. LMAO well said

        2. whats the name of the documentary?

      2. christopheraser
        30th June 2015, 1:46

        He might be talking about the Australian Story peice that was done on him by the ABC here in Australia. I’m noit sure where you are, but it is available through iview (the ABC’s streaming service).

        1. Which show?

          1. Australian Story… reading webbers book now, plenty of juicy stuff from 2010 like the Renault guys saying the best engines were going to Seb, how mark lost respect for Horner (because he pandered to Marco) How Vettel had a shonky gearbox in Canada but was not allowed to pass because Vettel couldn’t handle it…. How he told Alonso on the podium in 2012 he was going to Porsche in 2014!!!! A great read sofar!

          2. That sounds funny.

          3. @Alex W

            All according to Webber

    2. I enjoyed it as well ,

    3. Link to Australian Story. Duration of 30′ minutes – only available until July 13.

      Pretty sure they geo-block the video, but maybe an Australian IP address can circumvent the control?

      1. Yup it’s geoblocked.

        There’s a chrome/Firefox extension called Hola, if someone really wants to see it…

  4. As much as I really can’t stand Red Bull, Mark’s claim that there was somehow a pro-German, or as he sees it an anti-Australian agenda is just ridiculous – he was replaced by an Australian (on merit!) and they haven’t exactly gone out of their way to put a German in the team since Seb – even though there was more than one extremely talented Germans on the driver market at the time.

    1. Wait, where do you read that? I know in the article above that Alan Jones (not Webber!) said about a perception that RB gave better treatment to the German driver because of nationality. A link would be nice.
      Anyway, what I get from that article is that they treated Vettel better because he was young (thus the future of the team?). Maybe there was some nationality played by the higher up (which is understandable), but the fact is there was favoritism back then. Now, as for replacing Webber with an Australian, maybe because that Australian is a RB driver? There wasn’t a German (or Austrian) RB young driver, but naturally they want their program to succeed, thus promoting a driver from their program is logical. Unlike when they got Vettel, this time they had all the data of their young drivers, thus can make a more calculated decision based on performance. So the circumstances when they recruiting Vettel vs when they promoted Ricciardo was different.

      1. “but the fact is there was favoritism back then” says the guy who didn’t win the championships. Not exactly “fact”.

      2. It’s probably more nuanced than that. After Vettel moved to Red Bull, the young driver management recognised there was a shortfall of talent behind him, so if they didn’t keep Vettel and Webber happy, they’d be screwed, thus they rushed Buemi and Alguersuari into the fold before either was ready.

        It wasn’t helped that Marko was actively torpedoing any internal and external criticism of the young driver program.

        This mis-management continued with the RIC vs RAI will-they/won’t they and the hurried promotion of Danil Kvyat to the top team after RBR dropped the ball with Jean Eric Vergne

    2. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
      30th June 2015, 2:36

      Anti-Australian? More anti-Webber if I recall correctly, also they didn’t quite like seasoned but (though) determined drivers, like Mark (and in his day David Coulthard). #younginexperiencedguns all the way..

      Although I understand and agree with your take on Red Bull, just curious, just why can’t you stand them? :-)

      1. @il-ferrarista Dietrich Mateschitz liked Webber and Coulthard because he felt indebted to them because they stuck with the team during its teething problems and helped build it up ahead of the new regulations.

        The problem was until recently, he was always very hands-off with the team running, instead preferring to let the wet blanket that is Horner run the team with Marko (who had a conflict of interest – the driver program) pulling the immediate strings & reporting in with the results.

        1. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
          4th July 2015, 3:17

          Interesting :)

    3. I watched Australian Story last night. Mark Webber said nothing of the sort. Alan Jones said that the team appeared to be pro-German, given the Austrian ownership / leadership. He didn’t say they were anti-Australian.

      My theory is that the team, at the time was pro-Helmut Marko. Helmut Marko needed Vettel to win, to prove his own worth. If the Australian journey man driver could beat Marko’s wunderkid (Vettel) then it would have put the effectiveness of Marko’s development program, and the need for his position into doubt.

      1. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
        4th July 2015, 3:18

        Webber a F1 journeyman, well eh right…?

    4. Red Bull is Austrian, I’m not sure Austrians see themselves as Germans…

      1. Austrians are probably the staunchest anti-Germans still existing.
        They might have a little bit of liking of Bavarians as they were the closest ally of them before being absorbed to German Empire in 1870.

    5. I’m getting sick of Webber crying in front of press-British press. I thought all that would end when he retired. Along with the boringest dominance of Mercedes, this is almost making me cheer for Sebastian Vettel.

      1. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation qualifies as “British press”?

    6. @fletchuk I already knew about everything Mark has told in this snippet. It’s factual and widespread. In 2010 Mark won Catalunya and Monaco and was leading the championship, to be fair to Sebastian he had a little bit of bad luck. The team stuck by Vettel because he was the redbull young prodigy and Vettel was quick enough and perhaps quicker than Webber in 2010 albeit the fact vettel was on a bad run, the team believed in Vettel.

    7. In 2009 Vettel was the faster of the two.
      In 2010 they were both in the fight for the championship. In races both of them finished, Vettel was more likely to finish ahead despite being on the back foot in terms of championship points.
      Not really surprising the team wanted to keep supporting Vettel as well, as long as he was in the fight.

  5. On Carlos’s photo I can only see a bunch of idiots with cameras and phones in the air. Is it just me or did people really forget how to enjoy such events? It may be though that I am just getting old :)

    1. sharing is top priority these days…

    2. It’s not just you. People seem to prefer to watch things through their phones as opposed to with their eyes.

    3. Nooo…. I agree with you, and I’m pretty young. Maybe many people are more interested in showing others, and getting the recognition, of being somewhere than actually enjoying it. Or maybe they’re recording it all so they can go back and watch the recording of them recording something. Haha! I’m sure there was an experience in there somewhere… :p

  6. I can’t help but think Korea 2010 changed Mark’s destiny.
    I believe that if it wasn’t for that spin, he would have won the championship and things would have been much different.
    Had Alonso also won the championship in 2010, I think Mark would have been stronger in 2011.

    I really do believe the performance of everybody, not only drivers, is down to their state of mind.

    1. I agree with this. Putting all the other stuff aside, Korea is what it comes down to.

    2. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
      30th June 2015, 3:58

      @brunes don’t forget the same race, Vettel lost his car with an engine problem that even sparkled a fire. And as I saw the 2010 review a few months ago, Hamilton also had his fair share of bad luck that year. So that “if” could apply to all the drivers.

    3. I’ve just gotta give a +1 to this… I liked watching marks work through his career, but Korea was a massive hit.

      1. Hmm, indeed it was. Mark wasn’t gonna get too many chances at the championship, and unfortunately he couldn’t grasp it with both hands in 2010.

    4. Wishful thinking…
      Also, don’t forget same race the guy who would have gone on to win the championship DNF’d as well. Recently (after Monaco) Vettel also said 2010 Korea was one of the lowest points for him. He had to retire out of the race he was leading because of mechanical issues. Pretty different than Webber. I think that race and the rest of that year actually shows why it was Vettel who would eventually win for years while Webber never quite got there.
      Mark makes his own destiny. No one can change someone else destiny. Then it wouldn’t be his destiny anyway. But I also think their performance heavily depends on their psychological state.

      1. The thing is, Webber’s DNF was his own fault. And he knows that.
        And because it was his fault I really think that it played with his mind.

    5. I think that might have showed the mentality difference between Webber and Vettel. They were both in the championship race and both couldn’t finish in Korea albeit under very different circumstances. But the rest of the season went different for them. Maybe they handled the situation differently.
      Also, people judging them tend to forget the previous year: 2009. Vettel was the only one close enough to challenge Button for the championship and he might have even won that if not for a couple of less issues (reliability, lack of experience, luck etc). And in 2010, even though Webber was in front of Vettel points-wise, Vettel was finishing more often than not ahead of Webber, especially in the last quarter of the races, even before Korea. I don’t think it was just 1 race. It’s become clear over the years that Vettel clears most of the points in the second half of a season or at least performs better. Maybe just the circuits, or the mental clarity at a time it becomes apparent what needs to be done. Some believes Vettel panics when he is challenged. Maybe, maybe not. But he is an especially focused driver who knows what to do and when to do it.

  7. Boo Hoo Hoo, poor you Webber, you had a boring F1 career with no titles, and now you’re gone. You don’t have to say every 2 weeks about how dummy F1 is right now or how the cars are not up to expectation or how Red Bull gave Vettel the Championship and not you.

    Look at Vettel himself, if anything I bet he was upset at Red Bull last year, he chose to go away (just like you). But instead he’s focusing on his current career at Ferrari rather than talk about his old team and teammate.

    1. this.

      He needs to sell books so has to have some sensationalism. Need some cheese with that whine Mark?

      1. He’s getting more annoying and meddling than Hakkinen at his post-retirement.

    2. @ducpham2708 How can you not see he is constantly put into the position to talk about it as it will remain a hot topic for a few more years. To Formula One fans it’s like Area 51…

      1. How can you not know that he WROTE A BOOK? Not exactly innocent bystander. I’m not saying he’s guilty of writing the book. Even Vettel said he doesn’t mind. I don’t care about that. But he wasn’t put into a position he didn’t want to be in.

        This talk about drivers talking just because they were “asked” a question by the press is empty imo. Not all the drivers answer all the questions and give sensational gossip-worthy statements to that press. Pretty sure not for the lack of trying on their part.

      2. Or is it Multi 21?

  8. Mark Young (@terry-fabulous)
    30th June 2015, 4:06

    It was a remarkable documentary, for nothing more then finally hearing about Mark’s relationship with Ann Neal, which has been going on now for nearly 20 years. Fascinating to see a driver in love with his manager who appears to be an extremely level headed grounded woman. I certainly can’t imagine her sooking him.

    The show was fairly mild on Vettel, not so much on Red Bull. Each incident of aggression by Sebastian was framed in the idea that no-one from Red Bull pulled him up for it. Indeed, the biggest eye opener for me was after Malaysia 2013, Sebastian walked up to Mark admitting he had f####d up, Mark telling him that they should both calm down and talk in China, only for Seb to come back in China and say that he regretted nothing had respect for Mark as a driver but none as a person.

    As said above, we will wait for the book!

    1. I won’t form an opinion until I’ve also read a book written by Sebastian Vettel.

    2. the biggest eye opener for me was after Malaysia 2013, Sebastian walked up to Mark admitting he had f####d up

      If you believe Mark Webber. He’s always come across as somewhat factually challenged.

      1. +1 This reminds me of Hamilton saying that Rosberg admitted he had crashed on purpose after Spa. Obviously either he misunderstood or he is misleading.

  9. If things went south in 2010, why did Webber keep renewing his contract year after year until 2013? Surely he could have walked out and pursued a different team to drive in F1 or go do WEC. 2010 was the closest he got to winning the championship and yet he feels he was not given parity.

    Why did he then think the situation will ever change? As much as Webber can cry about not getting equal treatment, it was Vettel who kept putting the car in places it belonged. It made sense for RB to back him post 2010.

    He stuck it to pole, raced away to a distance and maintained position to get the wins. Compared to Webber who would most like qualify a little lower than what his car was capable of, get bogged down at the start, end up 8th and do a recovery drive.

    Mark Webber is not going to win anything from revealing his time at RB while continuing to be there for three more years. His chance at speaking up was probably sometime in 2010/11. He missed that and all these interviews now look like purely desperation to put himself in better light.

    I liked Mark when he drove for RB but seeing what Vettel is doing in a different car, makes me believe it wasn’t purely the car. The guy had consistency at the sharp end of the grip.

    1. @evered7, another point that I find slightly hypocritical of Webber to complain about is the use of team orders – he himself has quite happily admitted to the BBC that, when Red Bull once asked him to stay behind Vettel in one race in 2012, he ignored the order and tried to pass Vettel. If Webber has made it clear by his actions that he doesn’t feel himself bound by team orders, then frankly he shouldn’t have been surprised that Vettel later chose to ignore them too if he saw Webber was getting away with it.

      1. So that’s one more point against Webber’s case. Seriously, I don’t think he has any grounds to stand on for his time at RB.

        He was a good driver but was paired with another one destined for greatness. The second half of 2013 where Vettel took 9 wins in a row with Webber nowhere in sight tell us all we need to know.

        1. I agree with you lot.

        2. I recall that towards the end of the 2009 season when Webber was mathematically out of contention for the championship he said in interviews that he would not help Vettel’s championship challenge but would race for himself.

          Then the following year 2010 in Brazil, Webber tried to use the press to bounce the Red Bull team into using team orders and backing him for the championship, even though Vettel was still in contention in his own right and was also the on form driver.

          So Webber wanted to have his team mate’s chance to try to win the title stopped in 2010 to support his own bid when he hadn’t been prepared to support Vettel the previous year even when he had no chance to win himself.

          1. We all remember him trying to overtake Vettel despite team asking not to, before Malaysia’13.
            In 2012, Webber went onto finish 6th in the championship while his teammate was fighting for every single point to win the championship in the end. You’d think Webber trying to get pass Vettel would be unnecessarily unsupportive of him.
            In 2013, this is the next year right after that one where Webber didn’t listen to team order and Vettel was fighting for each point because it was an extremely close fight. Not really hard to understand why Vettel did what he did whether you support it or not.

      2. You’re right, the only difference was that Webber could not make the move stick while Vettel could.

      3. Don’t forget Silverstone 2011 when he tried to pass Vettel when told to “maintain the gap”.

        1. Someone should count how many times he actually did that. As far as we know at least. Not surprising after those incidents that Vettel implied people behaving very different and disappointing behind the scenes. I didn’t have any problem with Mark not listening to the team at those times as I’ve always liked Mark and I’m a spectator so I like them racing. But it was not fair of him to behave the way he did towards Vettel.

    2. I think I have a very short memory. Only after reading through these, was I able to refresh my memory the time when Web/Vet were team mates at RB. Seems like Webber has got a lot going against him as well in his case against Vettel.

      Anyway that is the past; I hope he finds WEC enjoyable and is able to be a winner at Le Mans. Considering he has already won the Monaco GP, it will go nicely with it in his trophy cabinet.

  10. Times have really changed man! People are so bust taking pictures and selfies and videos of the F1 car that I don’t see anybody really absorbing the feel of it!

    Sorry, couldn’t help but observe it!

  11. The race Webber is talking about must be Turkey 2010, as he’d won the previous two (Barcelona&Monaco). The race was dramatic enough for Red Bull anyway…

  12. ColdFly F1 (@)
    30th June 2015, 8:44

    I’m wondering if Webber also blames ‘Vettel favouritism’ for being the slowest Porsche LMP1 driver at Le Mans this year!

    (don’t get me wrong; I like my fellow countryman, but sometimes it is better to focus on your own weaknesses/shortcomings before blaming others)

    1. Wow. I think we need more info than that to say he’s the slowest of them all overall. But interesting nonetheless.

      1. Don´t worry, you will find more about it in Mark Webber´s next book

  13. Keith, this is the link for the documentary from the ABC website. Can you confirm if it is available only to Australian residents?

    1. yes @kazinho, it is IP blocked just for viewers in Australia

    2. It didn´t work on my work computer. Try HOLA, maybe you can make it play @kazinho

  14. Really cannot judge how much of that piece from Webber, or his book, is coloured by his perception. But I must say that I lost respect for Horner when he gave in to the absurd notion from Helmut Marko that somehow Webber was responsible for the 2010 Turkey crash.
    And since then he has lost more ground by being a “non boss” every time he should have decided anything (please Seb don’t do those fast laps – seriously??) although his “explanation” of where RBR stand in the greater picture of F1 as well as all the laughable defense of exploiting loopholes did him no favour either.

    I think its pretty likely that the team (Marko has strong influence over almost everything it seems, more then the team principle) did favour Vettel as he was the star of their young driver program. And he was a very good fit with the newey cars and their characteristics.

    Marks inside view is one many fans have been longing for for at least 5 years now, so its good its out there. But one has to remember its HIS view, not the complete picture of every situation. And yes, I do hope Mark can now move on and show that he can come in first in WEC :-)

    1. I agree with you overall. Especially about it being HIS view. People now act like he’d be the most objective guy in those situations.
      But I also think he lacked the consistency, and that “something” guys like Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Schumacher, Senna, Prost etc had, something like a ruthless determination, getting the job done.

    2. @bascb – Isn’t everything written by someone from their perception? He, or anybody else, can’t write about Vettel his experience only about his own and that’s most likley what he did. Of course you experience everything with a bias glasses on. It’s kinda like negative and positive attribution. When something goes well it’s down to the person but when it did not it was down to the material at hand.

      1. indeed it is @xtwl. We can all only try and do our best to minimize that.

      2. Yeah. So, important not to forget that while reading/listening to what he says.

  15. Webber talking like this despite his Red Bull sponsorship makes me question everything he says.

  16. I think you can see from Vettel’s relationship with Ricciardo and Raikkonen that it was not all on him.

  17. As much as I’ve always liked Mark, if I had to decide between him and Seb as a number 1 driver I’d pick Seb every time. Mark’s a good driver but he’s a bit too much like Coulthard and lacks that killer attitude you need to win WDC(s). I’m sure Seb is a nice guy outside of F1, but put him in a race car and, like Scumacher and Senna, he’s going to do whatever it takes to get the best result possible.

    I don’t like Red Bull, or the guys running the team, but I can’t knock them for supporting the driver who was most likely to bring them the Championships they wanted.

    1. Eveyone forgets the year before 2010. lol

    2. @beneboy I’m a massive Webber fan, always have been and even I would have done that in after 2010. Vettel was always destined to be the #1 at Red Bull. Even if Webber had won in 2010 I doubt he would have in 2011.

    3. Agree. I’m not a fan of Red Bull management either. Always thought Horner was a hypocritical whiner and Marko was a strong patriot of the drivers he brings to the team. But nonetheless, if I had to give preference to either Seb or Mark, it would be Seb. He was that slight bit quicker, more consistent and was way more hungry for championships.

  18. Sorry, no offence to a chap that was fun to have around, but… Mark Webber’s ‘greatest misfortune’ was to bottle/blow/let slip the 2010 WDC. That was there for him to take, and he didn’t. Everyone banged on about how brilliant it was he didn’t care enough to get himself majorly injured in a cycle crash – but if the nagging results of that contributed to his late season dip, I wonder weather MW will look back on it fondly… He was the stronger driver that year until the end of the season, after that he never really came close to SV. Many a snowball grows from such outcomes…

    1. I don’t think he was the stronger driver, Vettel was faster for most of the year, 10 pole positions to 5 for Webber. Vettel without reliability issues should have won the first 3 races and he would then I think have controlled the season from there, instead of having to make up ground.

    2. Despite Vettel being behind him on points that year, he more often than not finished ahead of him at the races. From a team’s point of view, barring reliability issues, it was more than likely he could catch up with Webber and even finish ahead of him. He was the faster of the two in 2009 anyway. They can see even more than that with all the data, but even the qualifying was pretty much in Vettel’s favor, big time.

  19. OOT: Kvyat. What do you think? I think he’s gonna be a good one. Since their first clean weekend in Monaco, he was faster than his teammate until the very unlucky start in Austria. Inexperience too perhaps. His pace was good but his qualifying is getting better too. Despite not racing in Australia he’s also right up there with his teammate in the standings. We’ll have a better idea by the end of the season of course.

  20. I think there was some Vettel favouritism inside RBR but I have also always believed that it was based on pragmatism and had nothing to do with Vettel’s nationality or personal relationships. The team’s management obviously knew that Vettel was the better driver and made some pragmatic decisions, which were not always fair. But that is what you are forced to do in an F1 team and we have seen far worse examples of such favouritism in the recent F1 history. I blame RBR for not replacing Webber with a stronger driver earlier as that might have made the 2011 and 2013 seasons more exciting but I cannot blame them for slightly favouring their strongest driver.

  21. Why is “cry baby” Webber getting so much exposure in the media? He must be paying some PR firm a fortune for all the “airtime” he gets with yet another sob-story every week, getting beyond ridiculous now.

    1. @aliced
      He’s just released a book and is doing the media circuit to promote it. He’s also one of the few drivers that dares to have an opinion, and tell people about it – which is quite rare these days.

      1. He tells the media things which they like to hear. That has a lot to do with his being promoted by them.

    2. Now, that goes way back… Back to the time Australia was colonized by the British. That’s when it all began.

  22. 2017 news:
    Mark Webber: Porsche favored Hulkenberg ;)

  23. Webber Vettel
    129 Races 113
    9 Wins 38
    41 Podiums 65
    13 Pole 44
    0 Championships 4
    Webber is a “Cry Baby” like his good friend Alonso…

    1. @jorge-lardone: and runner-up: Vettel:1 Webber:0
      Webber is useless that he could not take the runner-up position in the 2011 and 2013 dominant seasons :)

  24. Apex Assassin
    30th June 2015, 17:55

    Webber was pathetic in F1 and has somehow managed to get even more pathetic after F1. If he dedicated as much effort to his race-craft he might have actually accomplished something with himself other than being labeled a whinger. No wonder he couldn’t find a drive in F1.

  25. This is very boring.

  26. Formula E is LAME.

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