Mark Webber of Australia and Red Bull Racing drives at the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix at Istanbul Park on May 28, 2010, in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images.
Mark Webber’s world championship hopes were dealt a serious blow by his own team in Istanbul as Red Bull became Red Turkeys.
Worse still, senior members of his team have placed the blame squarely on Webber, despite pundits, fans, and just about anyone who watched the incident finding fault with Vettel, or at least putting the blame on each driver.
Adrian Musolino’s article sums up the incident and the ensuing dogfight that will emerge. But the rage from fans has shown a high level of support for Webber.
A poll by Autosport found 80% blamed Vettel with the other 20% found to be Sebastian Vettel’s family members who split the blame between both and Webber.
Now being serious for a moment, Webber wasn’t totally innocent – he doesn’t leave much for Vettel who had managed to get in front on the inside line. But Vettel was careless/impetuous/foolish enough to believe that Mark could disappear or just yield, like he had in Malaysia, and promptly ran into him.
Since Malaysia, where Vettel smoked Webber into the first corner of the race, the tide has turned. Webber has won two races, including prestigious Monaco with a clear margin, asserting himself over Vettel who had no response. Interestingly, this has turned the national past-time of ‘Webber bashing’ to praising Webber, and to now being irate enough to load the Red Bull Racing community webpage with comments telling Vettel exactly where to go.
Inflaming the situation beyond it’s already heated acrimony was paddock talk heaping rumours over whether or not Webber faces racing a golden boy or favourite son. Red Bull isn’t overly popular within the paddock from reports that suggest that the team haven’t won friends from their perceived arrogance, especially during the ride height accusations made earlier in the season.
It is a chance for the media to stick the boot in by looking for Austrian owned-German driver connections and golden child implications. Vettel has also peeved fans and pundits with his reaction to the incident, twirling his fingers as if to say: “Everyone is crazy but me”. Ahem.
A senior member of the Red Bull team is Austrian Dr Helmut Marko – who overseas the young driver programme from which Vettel is a graduate. His comments after the race to official site Formula1.com has turned Webber fans from cheesed off to apoplectic.
Marko clearly faulted Webber, and felt that Webber should have given up the race win for his faster teammate. You can imagine that Webber will see those comments and feel terribly isolated when laying fault on him goes against common opinion.
Red Bull will try and smooth this over and deny favouritism. But it might be like paper over cracks if war erupts between two drivers who have that killer instinct so desired by a team. The race in Turkey will be viewed by many as a tipping point in the season.
Where it goes from here will be fascinating.
The Australian finished second but had to work for it, as he fought off food poisoning, a race day engine change, and his own overheating body.
Nico Hulkenberg's move to a German team will hopefully bring back some of the German flare Formula 1 had just seven years ago.
Given how exclusive and precious a commodity scoring an F1 point is, why is it that mediocrity should be rewarded?
Team Penske is under the same umbrella of ownership as the IndyCar Series itself, so it was imperative for to drop the hammer and protect their integrity—which, thankfully, they did.
Red Bull can’t rest on its laurels and if Perez can’t provide them with cover on the rare days that Verstappen is having trouble, it's time to look elsewhere.
The absolute vitriol against the Canadian that has come from the incident is beyond reprehensible.
