In yesterday’s British GP, the two Red Bulls were beaten by Fernando Alonso, with championship leader Seb Vettel in second and Mark Webber in third. The Aussie tried challenging his teammate for position right till the end, when we heard a team order calling for restraint.
But the team radio snippets that we hear on TV are delayed; “Mark, you need to maintain the gap,” was actually spoken around four laps from the end of the race. This means that Webber ignored the order and went for it. He has confessed so, and unhappy team boss Christian Horner will hold a “private talk” with the Aussie.
“I can understand Mark’s frustration in that, but had it been the other way around it would have been exactly the same. It happened a couple of years ago in Turkey when exactly the same thing happened with Sebastian, so it makes no sense from a team point of view to risk both of your cars. It was obvious that neither was going to concede,” he told Autosport
“And, as we saw with [Felipe] Massa and [Lewis] Hamilton at the last corner, who very nearly made contact, it made no sense from a team point of view to allow them to continue to fight over those last couple of laps. Mark obviously chose to ignore that and didn’t make the pass in any event, but that is the team’s position,” Horner added.
This effectively means that Webber will be just a supporter from now on then? “He is free to fight for race wins. He qualified on pole position here. He had the ability, the opportunity to win this race. It didn’t pan out for him today but we will continue to give him every chance to do so.
“From a team perspective, I made it quite clear in the drivers’ briefing this morning in front of the engineers, that the biggest thing today was about getting a team result in front of all of the staff who put in so much effort into both of those cars, for the Constructors’ Championship and the Drivers’ championship.
“At the end of the day, the team championship is every bit as important as the drivers’ championship to us. And we risked giving away 33 points today in the last three laps by allowing our drivers to fight it out. As we have seen previously, that can have dire consequences,” Horner explained.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
sigh… team orders again… can't live with them, can't live without them…
IF he wasnt crap all season long,thy wdnt have asked him to move over…he has no chance of wining….nobody likes team orders…bt if ur team mate keeps wining n ur nt…thn team ordets is inevitable …
I love to support RBR for what they stood for regarding team order last year. Drivers should always be allowed to race their heart out right until the end. It may be risky, like when Vettel and Webber collided in Turkey 2010, but that’s racing and that’s what we watch for.
I’m glad Webber ignored the team order. Even as he ended up with the same position, there’s difference between unable to overtake and conceding to team order.
But Horner’s concern is understood. Nobody in RBR would want another Turkey 2010. Maybe this whole fiasco wouldn’t have happened if he radioed “ok boys, race as much as you like, just don’t end up in the ditch both of you” instead.
as long it is not Ferrari, people will said team order are okay……..
this is stupid
Since last year,seems webber is much faster than vettel…but this year,RBR make more power to Vettel’s car only,and less to webber in terms of blown-diffusser pwer…
But in this race,when RBR come very similar,Webber can overtakes Vettel with ease!!
RedBull=Double Standard!!
Dude both drivers in any team get almost the exact same car, only the settings are different (i.e. down-force levels, suspension, gear ratios etc.), so I think the only difference is the DRIVER SKILL.
Like i said before,vettel’s car have more blowing power thus have additional downforce,but less to webber!!
In terms of driving skills,seems Webber have more advantages than Vettel ‘kid’…so it more rational RedBull favouring Webber rAther than Vettel!!
So,who can take blame on this issue?!
Looks like Seb is 1st in RBR. They can’t use this radio broadcast to Seb:
“Mark is faster than you, do you understand that” just like Massa got that message last year:P
yeaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the old comment section is back!!!!!! ^_^ sorry if i notice late.. heh heh..
btw, any team can’t avoid favoritism, it just happens..
He didn’t ingnore what… just his effort to play ‘cucuk-cucuk’ to please those high paying spectators!
I like Webber’s character and personality. Don’t just listen to the boss blindly every time :)!!!