Webber ignored Red Bull’s orders
The Austrian team asked the Australian driver to secure his 3rd position.
After securing third place at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Mark Webber stated in a press conference that he had received probably four or five messages from his team asking him not to attack Sebastian Vettel, instructions he refused to follow.
« I don’t agree with that!, » explains big Mark. « If Fernando had retired on the last lap, we would have fought for the win. Of course, I ignored the team because I wanted to try and gain a position. Sebastian and I were doing our best. I wasn’t going to collide with anyone. […] I tried my best to get past the guy in front of me. »
Last year, the Australian won the same British Grand Prix, marked by the controversy over the front wing that he was deprived of to equip his teammate’s car. After a fierce start between the two men, the Australian crossed the finish line as the winner and loudly proclaimed over his radio that it wasn’t too bad for a number 2.
Asked if he felt like he was being treated as a No. 2 again, the Red Bull driver said: « Not really. I just want to race until the end. With four or five laps to go, they started telling me I needed to hold my position. I wanted to score points, but I also wanted to score a few more. »
A situation ultimately similar to the one McLaren faced at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were fighting for first place, just moments after the incident involving the two Red Bull drivers who could have avoided many problems by receiving such instructions at the time.
Questioned, Sebastian Vettel admitted understanding why the team had made such a request but noted that he enjoyed being able to fight against his teammate: “If both cars are somewhat isolated in second and third position, with the first far ahead and the fourth quite far behind, from the team’s point of view, there is no reason to fight and do something stupid. The difference between second and third place is not very significant but, naturally, we fought. I tried to maintain my position. I was struggling, Mark was faster and then there was the checkered flag.”
The FIA should not intervene, however, as the regulations on team orders were revised this winter, following the team orders incident at the German Grand Prix. Moreover, Sebastian Vettel doesn’t see any reason to justify a controversy: « For me, at this level, it was rather amusing. »
The end of the race was marked by the battle between the two Red Bull teammates but also by the clash between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa who, unlike the Austrian team’s drivers, left a few bits of carbon on the track.
