Will Mark move over in Singapore/Suzuka?
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I’ve been thinking about this a great deal. I wonder. Say we come to a weird position in Singapore or Suzuka. Where Mark is ahead of Sebastian on the track.
Let’s say that if the race finished in that order it did; Alonso and the McLarens would be knocked out of WDC contention, but Mark hasn’t yet been knocked out of WDC contention. However if Mark let Sebastian through; then Seb’s WDC would be secured. So it’s “keep the current position, and let things run between Mark and Seb,” or it’s “let him through and get the WDC over with.”
Do you think Mark would let the guy through?
It would arguably give him a better chance at the 2012 WDC title; sealing the WDC would just let them easily seal the WCC while the entire RBR tech team goes to work flat out on the RB8.
Red Bull would probably ask him, but Webber probably wouldn’t do it. Seeing how Vettel is in a totally different class to Webber, I’m not sure Webber’s chances of a 2012 title will be any better.
I think he would but I doubt think Mark has much chance of being ahead of Seb at any point.
I’m really confused in this. On the one hand; Mark seems to have submitted to the Number 2 role; though he will always deny it. That makes me think that if he can help Seb get the title one race earlier; he might. As long as it doesn’t compromise his 2nd place in the WDC. However on the other hand he’s also the kind of driver to say, “Blimmin’ hell mate. What on earth for? You’ll probably seal it in the next race anyways.”
I would hope that Red Bull have the sense to realise that Seb has realistically won the championship already. There is very little point in team orders for them at the moment and it would bring a huge amount of negative publicity.
I’m not talking through team orders. My question is actually asking; would Mark do it out of his own volition?
No because Seb would have practically won it anyway. Also no since Webber most likely won’t be ahead in the first place.
I see no point in Red Bull asking or Mark doing it, especially not of his own volition. The Silverstone thing blew over pretty quickly but another Austria 2001 (yes I mean 2001, no way would they ask Mark to give up a win surely) would look even more stupid, even more so for Mark if he did it by himself.
Vettel has won the championship effectively, so there is no need for Webber to move over. And he needs every point he can get as his 2nd in the championship (unless he doesn’t care where he comes, which I doubt) is far from secure.
Whether he’d do it if asked I do not know. But if he were asked then the little respect I have for Red Bull (other than their engineering side obviously) would be gone, as there would be no need, and all it would do is ruin a race.
Why would he move over? Singapore is round 14 of 19 – if Vettel doesn’t win, it’s not the end of the world. He’ll still have five more races to seal the title. And the next race is Suzuka, and we know how much Vettel loves it there.
First, I don’t think such a situation is likely as Vettel has outperformed Webber in all but one of the twelve races this season. I think Vettel will be in front of Webber anyway. Even if that won’t be the case, I don’t think Red Bull will use team orders and I definitely don’t think Webber is going to let Vettel past without a fight. Both championships are RBR’s anyway, there’s no need to manipulate the races like this. Requesting one of the drivers to ‘maintain the gap’ in order to avoid a clash is one thing, asking them to switch positions is another and even Helmut Marko understands that. As regards Webber’s chances of beating Vettel and winning the championship next year, I think they are close to 0 and that Webber is going to focus on trying to win seperate races, no matter whether this year or in 2012.
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