Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Not Bad For A Number Two Driver

Did Red Bull Really Get The Results They Wanted?

With a touch of “understatement” Mark Webber fired both barrells at Red Bull management as he crossed the finish line of the British Grand Prix earlier today. The seven word statement summed up the the situation of the previous two days that had obviously been simmering since parts were removed from Mark’s car to be put onto his teammate’s car. The support team for Webber was also of the same opinion because they were seen waving the “old” front wing removed from Webber’s car at Vettel’s mechanics.

The win at Silverstone takes Mark to 128 points in the World Championship, just 17 points behind the leader Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was the only competition for Webber during the race, remaining close behind the race leader, but unable to overtake at any point. Silverstone was a track that Hamilton particularly wanted to win on because it would be considered to be his home track.

Mark Webber accepting the winners trophy

All Australia is proud of you Mark

The win, from second place on the grid, was relatively incident free compared with the death defying crash Mark had at his previous outing. At the first corner Vettel attempted to squeeze Mark to ensure he maintained his lead into the first corner but Webber was already in a position to take the corner and Vettel had to run wide into the rough where he got a punctured tyre. Only a safety car period allowed Vettel back into the race to gain some valuable points. Vettel is now in 4th place in the championship with 121 points, 7 points behind Webber.

Mark was seen speaking with Sterling Moss, the legendary 80 year old British racer, and this may well have been some inspiration for Mark to get the best start I have ever seen him perform. I have been critical in the past of Mark’s race start as it appears to me that he is slow to get the car moving and gives away about 4 or 5 positions before the first corner.

The winning smile of Mark Webber

Martin Brundle made the comment before the start to “look out for the fun at the first corner” and it has been reported that Mark Webber said “You bet there will be some fun at the first corner”. I think Mark carried a lot of passion into this race and if he drives this well when he has the passion then maybe we need something to create this passion before each race. I am not suggesting to Red Bull management that they keep this silly bias towards Vettel going – there should be equality between the two drivers and the team concentrating on beating the McLaren team who may well take out the constructors championship and are still in good position to win the drivers championship.

After the race Mark said that he enjoyed the race and in partcular the good fight with Lewis Hamilton. In answer to a question about the first corner Mark said “I made a good start and I was very keen to make it my corner and it worked out well for me.”

My personal opinion is that Mark was bullied by Vettel at the start and managed to show that he would resist such tactics and Vettel went away and sulked for a sort time. Earlier in the season Vettel tried to bully his way past Webber and took them both off the track. Red Bull management should see this behaviour as detrimental to their efforts, as a team, to win the constructors championship. Also thre is this ridiculous situation where their number 1 driver appears to feel so threatened by their number 2 driver that he continually wants to jeopardise his chances of completing a race. This can only result in both drivers missing out on achieving the necessary points to win the championship and both of them are capable of winning this year.

Everything seems to be in the correct order here

Hey Mark, your fellow Australians are proud of you and in particular I am very proud that you have now won your third race this season. I know that this is your year to win the championship, so keep a cool head in spite of team bias and let your ability take you to the winners podium.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 11th, 2010 at 10:37 pm and is filed under expert motoring advice, Motoring Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Not Bad For A Number Two Driver

Did Red Bull Really Get The Results They Wanted?

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