Mark Webber of Australia and Red Bull Racing in parc ferme at the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix at Istanbul Park on May 29, 2010, in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo by Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images.
Mark Webber had all the inspiration he needed to win the British Grand Prix: a return from a massive crash at Valencia, the championship slipping away, and his younger, fiendishly quick teammate, being given a better front wing.
And win it he did, celebrating while torn between wanting to do two things at once – savour a fantastic win and give a very British two fingered up-yours to his team who had doubted he was the fastest driver.
To understand Webber’s struggle to be able to simply enjoy just his fifth win in Formula 1, there’s a story to be told.
As research and development takes place and new parts are fabricated, upgrades to Formula 1 cars are made for each race.
Red Bull Racing teammates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were each given a new model front wing, said to provide more stability and grip to the car. During Saturday practice, Vettel’s new wing broke after mounting points failed.
With just one new wing available, the team made the decision to take the trick wing off Webber’s car and place it on Vettel’s for qualifying and the race.
Webber was given the old wing.
The unprecedented move angered Webber. Suddenly, he found himself moving from the much emphasised equal standing within Red Bull to a clear Number 2.
It is not often that a front-running team has only one new part to use, as teams are at pains to ensure quality and fairness between competitive drivers.
The decision was made by Team Principal Christian Horner in consultation with team technical genius Adrian Newey. Together, it was decided that as Vettel was ahead in the Championship, he was to receive the faster front wing.
‘There was only one component,’ said team principal Christian Horner. ‘A team is bigger than one individual and Sebastian is leading the World Championship, so he was given the one remaining new wing. It was a tough decision but sometimes I have to make difficult decisions.’
Adrian Newey is the most competitive player in the pitlane, having dominated Formula 1 for many years. Newey lead Williams and McLaren to world championships through his technical mastery and passion for winning.
It is likely that Newey would not give up an advantage to one driver even if it disadvantages one of his own – he races to win, and would regard not using a faster part as madness.
This incident follows the infamous coming together of Webber and Vettel at Turkey. Key Red Bull figures poured on petrol by claiming Webber should have moved out of the way despite leading the Grand Prix at Istanbul.
The usual signs of smoke from an unnecessary racing incident between teammates turned into a nuclear meltdown. The team was under fire for the bizarre turn of events.
To their credit, Red Bull issued a cheesy press release complete with happy snap, and the issue was just being put to bed in a Webber and Red Bull happily-ever-after fairly tale.
Then came the front wing, and all the previous frustrations and questions surfaced yet again.
Webber was ashen faced in the post-qualifying press conference, having missed out on pole position to Vettel by little more than a tenth of a second. He repeated a mantra constantly to the furore of questions: “The team got the result it wanted”.
Webber channelled his frustration at Silverstone off the starting line. From second, he pounced on the slow-starting Vettel into the first corner, took the lead, and never looked in danger to the line.
On the other hand, Vettel with his new front wing lost out with a tyre puncture, and struggled to the finish after being last after the first lap. Webber saluted the win with a great one-liner – “Not bad for a Number 2”.
Webber publicly attacked his team after his win: “Honestly, I would never have signed the contract for next year if I believed thats the way it was going to be going forward. We’ll see how it goes in the future, but I’ll just keep doing what I do and hopefully it’s enough.”
This win was justice served – or even karma – for the Australian, who has the fighting qualities needed to take out the World Championship in this his best chance at achieving the monumental feat.
As Sir Stirling Moss aptly put it – Webber should just say to his team ‘Ok, give him [Vettel] the best parts, and I’ll go out and beat him anyway’.
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