F1

Should Webber leave Red Bull or retire?

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  • #132934
    Aish Heydrich
    Participant

    …or neither.
    Do you think Webber looks like a strong contender for next year’s RBR seat? If not he has a few choices-
    1. Look for a different team where his seniority will determine his position.
    2. Leave F1 with his head high, like Juan Pablo Montoya did.
    3. Try his hand at some other type of auto sports, or
    4. Retire like a gentleman.

    Your opinions…

    #229536
    himmatsj
    Participant

    I think Webber might even quit the team right this instant, or take a two race holiday. He certainly isn’t amused by what went on yesterday, and he said it plainly that in the last 15 laps of the race, there were many thoughts running through his mind. Aside from driving Seb off a cliff or dropping a one ton heavy stone on him, Webber must’ve surely thought about making an exit.

    Heck, I won’t even rule out a direct exchange between RB and Ferrari for WEB and MAS.

    #229537
    Diceman
    Participant

    To be honest I’m surprised he’s still in RB. I have a feeling that after this season he is going to a midfield-team for one year before retiring. Maybe back to Williams?

    #229538
    mnmracer
    Participant

    Meanwhile, following Webber’s disrespect to teamorders, Vettel went on to win two more championships. Not sure leaving would be with his head held high.

    #229539
    Aish Heydrich
    Participant

    @himmatsj

    in the last 15 laps of the race, there were many thoughts running through his mind.

    Yes I wonder what he meant by that.

    #229540
    electrolite
    Participant

    I think he’ll stay at Red Bull this year and beyond. He’s there because he knows that’s his best chance of challenging for the championship. And I would say that moving to McLaren, Ferrari or Lotus and being their first driver at the minute wouldn’t even change that.

    I don’t think the team are angry with Webber either – and he’s shown he still has the skills to fight at the front. So that’s my guess.

    #229541
    dot_com
    Participant

    I can’t imagine Webber leaving RBR two races into the season, as tempting as it might have been in the heat of the moment. I’m sure he will not be at the same team next year, but it would be foolish to leave the fastest team in F1 regardless of how difficult the politics are or how much you hate your team-mate. I’m sure no competitive driver would do that, especially one nearing the closing stages of his career. I also can’t imagine Webber moving back to a midfield team next year – in my opinion it’s either Red Bull or retirement for Webber in 2014.

    #229542
    Antonio Nartea
    Participant

    Nah, Webber will hold it together this season, for sure. No matter how disgusted he might be regarding what happened this weekend, he’s not stupid. He knows that second seat with Red Bull is the best he’s going to get at the moment, he knows he runs a GP3 team with his boss, he knows burning bridges like that is a bad career choice.

    Come 2014, however, I don’t see Webber renewing his contract with Red Bull. And from this point onwards there are strictly two options for him:

    1. retirement – the guy will be 38 by mid-season next year, he might just want to go surfing now.
    2. Williams – provided Maldonado keeps being awful this season or Venezuela pulls his cash-cord, Williams will need an experienced driver to fill that seat. Webber could be up for it for one year or two as a favour to FW and just for the sake of the good old days. And it will justify well with leaving Red Bull for “a new challenge”.

    The bigger question is “Who are Red Bull lining up to take his place?”. Vergne? Ricciardo? Da Costa? Buemi? Those are not great options. This is gonna be a bit of a dilemma at MK, I’m afraid.

    #229543
    Josh Shale
    Participant

    He should give his loyalty to red bull and continue to make vettel feel the guilt throughout the year for his undeserved win in malaysia.
    Especialy if vettel wins the championship by 7 points. The margin between first and second after webber turned his engine down and vettel still made the overtake after team orders to sit tight.

    #229544
    Craig Woollard
    Participant

    I think we need to wait and see a few more races and see how well it pans out. It wouldn’t do the team morale very good if he just left on the spot. I’m not on about Horner & Vettel, but for his race engineers and mechanics, having him just turn his back on all of them wouldn’t be very nice. For the first time in his career at RBR, Vettel is seen as the bad guy within the team, and I think they need Mark to help drag them through this rough patch, especially if it plays on Sebastian’s mind and his results subsequently dwindle (a la Lewis – 2011). Mark is still a bloody quick driver we shouldn’t forget, but I do feel that there will be a change at RBR for 2014. One of them will go, I’m just not sure who.

    #229545
    Jon Sandor
    Participant

    Mark Webber after Silverstone 2011.

    Webber caught Vettel in the final laps and mounted several overtaking attempts without success.

    The Australian said he had received “probably four or five” messages from the team asking him not to attack Vettel, but declined to follow them.

    Asked how he felt about the team orders, Webber replied: “I am not fine with it, no. That is the answer to that.”

    “If Fernando Alonso retires on the last lap, we are fighting for the win.

    “Of course I ignored the team because I wanted to try and get a place. Seb was doing his best, I was doing my best. I wasn’t going to crash with anyone.”

    I don’t think being a hypocrite is the worst thing in the world, but Webber is a hypocrite, of that there can be no doubt.

    #229546
    Michael
    Participant

    @Jon Sandor

    Seriously? Calling Webber a hypocrite for fighting with Vettel in Silverstone 2011? Hadn’t Vettel secured the WDC by then? The victory was inconsequential to Vettel and winning Silverstone after 2010 meant a lot to Webber for obvious reasons all of which he must have been reminded of when he returned to Silverstone.

    Vettel now has a 14 point lead when they would have been tied if Vettel didn’t “steal” the points. If Webber had crashed into Vettel, there would have been hell to pay for Webber… If Vettel had crashed into Webber, who do you think would have gotten blamed???

    #229547
    Jon Sandor
    Participant

    Calling Webber a hypocrite for fighting with Vettel in Silverstone 2011?

    Er… no.

    Calling Webber a hypocrite for ignoring team orders when it suits him and then having a melt down when Seb does the same? Yes, definitely.

    if Vettel didn’t “steal” the points.

    Vettel did not “steal” any points. He outraced his teammate on a race track. You’re acting like a fan of professional wrestling, not a fan of F1.

    If Vettel had crashed into Webber, who do you think would have gotten blamed?

    Vettel.

    But you are changing the subject. The point is that Webber repeatedly ignores team orders when it suits him, and then cries to the media when Vettel ignores team orders. That makes him a hypocrite.

    #229548
    Saints
    Participant

    Stay with Red Bull obv.

    #229549
    Michael
    Participant

    @Jon_Sandor

    As teammates go, Mark Webber is a phenomenal teammate to have and if you need any proof of that look no further than Vettel’s 3 WDCs – Webber was almost as important in winning them as Vettel.

    Webber follows orders in most races and Silverstone 2011 made no sense whatsoever. What’s the point of asking Webber to hold position othen than to insult him at the same race where he was insulted in 2010?

    How does Vettel repay Red Bull and Webber for the 3 WDCs they’ve helped him win? By disobeying them the only time they ask him to play nice.

    And that statement “Mark is too slow! Get him out of the way! He is too slow” when Mark was faster was ridiculous. Just because Vettel was slower than Hamilton does NOT entitle him to act the way he does. The same goes for the way he treated Karthikeyan last year.

    In the past, you could see pride in Horner’s eyes when Vettel won. Yesterday, there was shame and guilt in helping create this monster… I really wish the same issues that plagued Webber over the past 3 years surface in Vettel’s car this season and Webber passes him in points this year…

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