That cheeky little German! Sebastian Vettel once again proved in front of everyone, including his own team that his needs come first ahead of every one else’s. The reigning and triple world champion disobeyed direct orders from his team to stay behind Mark Webber in the 2013 Malaysian GP to emerge as the race winner.
Red Bull had come clear before the start of qualifying that their cars are marginal on tyres at best, and would struggle to finish the race need they race hard all the way. The team’s early call to ask the drivers to take it easy and hold positions while running ahead of the field was duly justified, as they’d risk running out of tyres and ruin the chance of a perfect 1-2 result.
Vettel had other ideas, obviously. Ordered repeatedly to maintain a three second gap behind Webber to protect the tyres (these modern F1 cars would eat up their tyres more running closely behind another car’s wake/turbulence), Vettel threw ethics to the wind and went for the win. The gap disappeared, Webber who had turned his engine down caught unawares. Cue panic in the team.
The two RB9s went round turns one, two and three mere inches from each other, Webber defending as hard as Vettel was attacking. Suddenly it was the 2010 Turkish GP all over again, with flashes of disaster for the team. It made a good spectacle, no doubt, but had they touched, the drivers and the team would both be fools.
The tension among the Red Bull bosses were clear to see, unable to handle their rebellious star driver. “This is silly, Seb, come on!” pleaded Christian Horner, only for Vettel to take it up another notch and make a dangerous lunge inside Webber, cutting him off into turn one. So he got the lead, forcefully, and stayed there till the end of the race.
Webber couldn’t mount a reversal as his tyres weren’t up to their best by then – Red Bull’s worries proving accurate. They were lucky that the Mercedes pair behind them had decided to cruise to the finish. Had they not, both Webber and Vettel, now saddled with no tyres left, would have been easy pickings and Red Bull would have lost an easy 1-2 result.
Red Bull may have gotten maximum points this weekend, but it was far from a perfect result. Mark Webber was visibly livid on the podium, and duly spoke his mind at the post-race interview with Martin Brundle.
“I want to race as well but in the end the team made a decision. We look after the tyres, get the car to the end. Seb made his own decisions today and will have protection as usual and that’s the way it goes,” said Webber publicly, making everyone in the Red Bull team cringe and leaving others in disgust.
The only issue for Webber is, the high horse he seems to be standing on is a really short one, as he himself has been guilty of forsaking direct team orders to stay behind Vettel. Given such commands in the 2011 British GP (remember the “maintain the gap” debacle?), he went for it anyway. The difference here is that he never managed to overtake his stricken teammate whereas Vettel yesterday did.
Such bitter betrayals among teammates have been seen before of course. Didier Pironi pulled a similar stunt on Gilles Villeneuve in the 1982 San Marino GP to tragic consequences, and Ayrton Senna’s shameful move on Alain Prost in the 1989 instalment of the same race was seen as the precipice of their legendary rivalry.
How Webber will react to Vettel’s treachery is yet to be seen, but the team harmony between the two Red Bull drivers is now non-existent, and sure enough they will be taking points out of each other from now on. Anyone remember Alonso and Hamilton duking it out in 2007? Neither of them won the championship that year, did they?
So what do you think of Vettel’s on-track behaviour and Webber’s off-track demeanour? Voice it out in the comments section below.
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Bring it on, TEAM-MATE!
true! that’s why I love Vettel.
That’s how a race should be, not like hamilton and rosberg, (rosberg should have overtaken hamilton)
Let them race, after all if F1 is so controlled and regulated, not many would want to watch it anymore.
Even if Webber fought back he won’t be able to beat Vettel. Vettel is better packaged on Sunday as well as Rosberg!
I guesss Webber should stop be sissy and fight for your place if you think you deserve it. Be a racer not a cry baby!
You guys have clearly shown yourselves to be clueless, and unable to see two feet ahead of you.
“Even if he fought back he won’t be able to beat Vettel”. Actually, if you look closely at the time Vettel overtook Webber, Webber wasn’t even trying his best to keep his lead because he followed instructions to ‘conserve the car’. If it had been any other driver protecting the lead (and not a team mate), Vettel would’ve been forced off the road & into the gravel.
I really cannot imagine how anyone could support Vettel for not being a team player & then calling Webber a sissy. In second place, Vettel would’ve still gained points, and this early in the season he shouldn’t be worried about not winning the title. & Webber was right, because Vettel’s selfish actions could’ve caused a collision & BOTH red bull cars would have retired.
Maybe you dickheads need to think before opening your mouth
If you could see from the overtaking moments, Mark was actually quite surprised Sebastian came to his right side and seemingly not prepared to expect Seb would make that move….that’s because Mark assumed Seb and him would listen to team order not to race each other to conserve fuel and preserve tyres. So Mark had been complacent of that position he was holding.
If for any possibility of fairness and fair play, Red Bull should radio Mark well before the last turn, just before they began that fateful lap of overtaking, radioed Mark with words such as ” Hey Mark, we gave team order to maintain position till the chequered flag, and not to race, but Seb does not want to listen!!!” What it meant would probably be that Mark would be more cautious to look at his car mirrors to judge where Vettel’s car is….. so that he would not be caught by surprise and leaving him with no preparation to fight to maintain his P1 position.
next year they will kick vettel out of redbull ^^
why would they kick the driver who’s been winning team points and championship titles… make no sense… go home jc, you’re drunk!
bitter Webber!…as a spectator, we need more driver like Vettel..team orders is only good for the team not for spectators
If Webber had behaved the same as Vettel they both would’ve crashed. Still great wheel to wheel racing though.
Dont blame them the mechanics dont earn the drivers salary and they probably earn bonuses during wins. So u can imagine if they all are looking at their bonuses being played around by two guys should they attempt to annihilate each other. Just think in real world scenario, u work in ur company, suddenly your partner attempts to ruin the products in ur batch in order to become top sales. In the end company reputation habis and both hilang sales.
Red Bull should have just let it be and allow both drivers to battle out for first place.
That could be suicide to both Redbulls.
Apparently webber is slow, dint u all notice after vettel overtake webber, and vettel lead the time ahead than webber a lot. how can team leader ask to maintain the 3 sec gap, yet the frontier is damn slow. It may lead to close position fighting with team Mercedes if vettel keep the 3 sec disctance and blindly maintain the tyre wear off.
I’m pretty sure he was later instructed to maintain the 3 sec gap which was earlier instructed on vettel.
Yeah, you’re correct. I don’t understand why some people are too thick to realise that
Webber wasn’t slower, apparently he had tune down his engine RPM at first team order fo vettel to maintain 3 secs gap and for them to preserve their quickly diminishing tyres. However vettel ignores the team order n went for attack… so it’s impossible for webber to defend in that position… i like vettel for his driving skill but doing this is a betrayal to his team mate…. webber wasnt slower that vettel at all throughout the race… he set few fastest lap time too…
If only it was toyota’s team, none of this wud hv matter! Crash the car also u got better RV!
Hahaha….
Luckily in F1, Toyota is history!!!!
A true racing driver wants to win every race. This is just their basic instinct. Nothing wrong with that!
Renault Car no RV. Vettel will race for Toyota next year.
i wanna listen to their radio conversation…
its still very early in the season, let the racers race!
same goes to mercedes too. rosberg was asked not to challenge for 3rd place..
until there is a clear reason to favour certain drivers later in the season, the team should just let it be..
i was in sepang yesterday….ugh… boring to watch the mercedes procession, except perhaps lewis’ unexpected ‘visit’ to see his old chums in the mclaren garage.
and webber was slower than vettel anyway..
yes, rosberg should have just done a vettel..the team’s orders are absurd!
Vettel is right. Slower car please fxx off! Thrist for champion is everything.
Can Kimi that this change again to become Champion?
Race to win, not to follow orders. That’s why Vettel is a triple world champion and Webber is not.
F1 as a whole is a race. So, technically Vettel is just doing what he is hired to do, which is to race and try to win. But these days, sports are also about strategy. Apart from driver’s points, they also have constructor’s points which team REDBULL did not want to risk, in case both cars collided and they could end up without anything. So, Vettel was wrong not to listen to team orders but it in all honesty, it should have been a race. Look at Lewis Hamilton, he won 3rd because of team orders and he didn’t look happy being on the Podium.
Sorry, Hamilton had never a happy man, pity of him.
ish…
happy ka kalau dah tersilap masuk kandang…
shame ada la…
Team order is nonsens, the quicker driver should win, since it is a competition and not a decision of the team
Webber is slow because of he switched his engine to fuel save mode or something like that. It’s like he switched his engine to be more efficient. He did that because of team order so that both drivers can get maximum team points. While Vettel didn’t follow that and he keeps on charging. That’s why Vettel is faster. If Webber did not follow the team order, he would be faster than Vettel.
Although i like Vettel, but I do think he did wrong this time.
so the team was wrong then..because vettel won the race with fuel to spare..sometimes you just have to take risks
vettel took the risk. he get whatever he wants. i’m fine with that but webber had to settle for second best because he had to restrain himself for the last 15 laps or so not to get what he wanted. not for himself but for the team. that’s my man!
if they rushed to be no.1 & crashed midway, then the team will sink…i could not understand why a driver has to be arrogant…as team matters. if a driver always thinking of himself at the expense of the team, then it might not be fair to other drivers in the team….come on isn’t that a person is racing, but the whole team!
Without Vettel’s incident, Sepang would really have been a BORING race wouldn’t it?
If this hold position BS goes on for the rest of the season, then 2013 will be just another silly season like it always have been since 5 years ago. The cars are real close, the drivers too, why can’t they just go racing? Team orders should be banned, it’s bad for F1.
There is no problem to this attempt of overtaking move….but…only if…it is done fairly !
If you could see from the overtaking moments, Mark was actually quite surprised Sebastian came to his right side and seemingly not prepared to expect Seb would make that move….that’s because Mark assumed Seb and him would listen to team order not to race each other to conserve fuel and preserve tyres. So Mark had been complacent of that position he was holding.
If for any possibility of fairness and fair play, Red Bull should radio Mark well before the last turn, just before they began that fateful lap of overtaking, radioed Mark with words such as ” Hey Mark, we gave team order to maintain position till the chequered flag, and not to race, but Seb does not want to listen!!!” What it meant would probably be that Mark would be more cautious to look at his car mirrors to judge where Vettel’s car is….. so that he would not be caught by surprise and leaving him with no preparation to fight to maintain his P1 position => that is true fair racing to Mark !
Shame on vettel
shame on webber for being slow and then a bad loser!
Shame on you for being stupid. Webber had already switched off his engine, so he wasn’t even driving competitively when Vettel took the lead. That’s unethical & unsportsmanship behaviour
this is race remember, the best man desert a trophy and better place..Seb just showing his talent..poor red bull, full of bullshit..Seb might be want join Mercedes or Lotus..or might be..Air Asia. hehe…i am so malaysiann..
at caterham, the bigger and more spectacular the collision, the more attention they get. vettel is always welcomed. i’m a malaysian too…
You guys who say Vettel is doing the right thing should consider this:
Webber had tuned down his engine to follow team’s order. So, if Vettel, wants to race, he should ask Webber to do that…
Come on…this is racing, agreed a driver instinct is to win the race no matter..no need to ask! It will be less fun to watch if RB imitates Mercedes’s strategy.
a real gentlemen fights someone of their own size. In this matter, fights on the same level engine mode.
This is a sport, which means good sportsman behaviour & if it’s a team, then play for the team! I’m guessing you’re just a fat slob who has never played sport with anyone, else you’d understand to respect team mates.
As spectators, yes we would love to see a competitive race and cruising to the finish line is not at all healthy for the sports. All this is something for the FIA to ponder and not for us to decide on whether the drivers should or should not listen to team orders.
In fact, imho what Vettel should do is to obey and listen to team or BOSS instructions. If Vettel wants racing his way, maybe he should be the boss of his new team then.
Pls all note that F1 is also a team race (which wins the team the Constructors Title) and NOT JUST a race between individuals.
ever thing about hidden agenda?
or conspiracy theory?
or secret message through the order….
oh…
too much watching Bourne Trilogy…
i tought the order just to make Webber slow down and avoid any colision and give easy overtaking for Vettel. Just a Team Order that not look like a team order. So nobody will curse RedBull like Ferrari several years back…
looks like this season gonna be a long one for both drivers. everyone knows f1 drivers or all racecar drivers, as a matter of fact, are very competitive and have egos the size of the moon. and everyone knows what a person with bruised ego will do. yes, payback. big time
Team order should be banned again. We should see a more healthy highest level motor racing without it.
I suppose this is a must possessed quality (ruthlessness) of a champion but it is not everyone’s real champion.
I doubt it will be like Senna vs Prost or Alonso vs Hamilton rivalry.
Vettel is way better than Webber. I predict on the next race….
Webber will have another poor start and can’t preserve his tyres. On the other hand, Vettel will be fighting against a proper champion.
really how long would any driver stay in an f1 race without technical instruction. I’m sure most drivers would love to race without being controlled by technical advice but f1 races wouldn’t last more than 10 laps with the low tolerance of equipment & parts.. Anyone who enjoys f1 realizes that it’s rare that the best driver is rewarded for their superior skill. It’s much more to do with the other100-200 members of the team.
I may be a Vettel fan, but I feel terribly sorry for Webber. His reward for obeying team order was a robbed win by the impulsive Vettel.
Meanwhile we see the complete opposite in Mercedes. It’s perfectly understandable why Hamilton feels he don’t deserve the podium, simply because Nico drove better yet it was not rewarded equally by being prevented to overtake him.
This had been the most conflicted race in awhile. I dunno what to say without sounding like self-contradiction. To say Vettel’s betrayal is shameful is admitting team order is right, yet in Mercedes’ case, it looked wrong.
It’s possibly arguable it need not come to this had only regulations allowed teams to go all out, rather than the very strategic races we see the past few years which cause teams to be risk averse.
No AES?
got.. check inside ur rear hole…
U guys that think vettel is correct dont know anything aboout F1…ahaha what a shame..please learn more about the sport..
In a racer’s point of view, he damn sure was!!
Plus, your main rival will always be your teammate. He’s the guy you wanna beat the most. F1 racers now becoming a bunch of sissies with team orders being ridiculously used early in the season.
F1 race fuel amount and tyre are controlled by the team, not the driver. That is why driver must execute team order. even Vettel cant win by himself if team didnt supply correct tyre or correct fuel amount or effective pit stop. it is not 1 man show! Vettel apologized already because he finally realized his mistake.
Majority people against team order and now they are blaming vettel for not following team order. People are hard to please.
F1 races too technical, everything control by race engineers. Might as well put a robot behind the wheel. Give me wrc anytime.
When Ferrari was excessively using team orders (Schumi era most notably), everyone hated them..but this?
Anyway, the way Mark blocked Vettel on the front straight was dangerous,he left Vettel almost no room; this incident was very similar to Schumi vs Barichello a few years back.
Hamilton said on the podium that he felt sorry for Nico, what a load of BS, if you were really sorry, why didn’t you give that 3rd place to Nico? Bullocks…
Team order blows.
Clearly Vettel is pampered with success too early in his career and forgetting it is the team/designer who is responsible for the fastest car not him. We all know team orders are legal in F1 and have been obeyed by drivers in past races so ignoring orders to gain self benefit is not acceptable. In my opinion Reb Bull should consider taking a serious action to bring the German on earth as he is flying too high but mind you it doesnt take long to turn the tides in formula one !
Come on guys, this is f1..2013…not 60′..its not a 1 man show..with all the regulation,tyres,fuel and especially with engine restriction, u need to preserve it..i know its stupid regulation but there nothing we can do..love it or leave it, go watch wrc or v8 supercars..or create ur own championship with all racer using same car with same spec and realibility built like a tank..with tyre that will not worn out and will never run out of fuel..engine that can be rev to 24k rpm all day long..hakkk tuiiii
you must follow the team decision. they is you paymaster. fullstop.
The team is in the garage. No team on the track, just individuals. Guy’s who want to win no matter what can find it hard to be told not to. They must race.