Helmut Marko: « Vettel needs to qualify better »
Helmut Marko believes that the reigning double world champion needs to qualify better and must no longer face issues in order to continue hoping for a third title. The Austrian also states that Mark Webber, currently ahead of his teammate, will have just as much right as him to defend his chances for the ultimate prize.
After dominating Formula One in 2011 and showing the early signs in 2010, the Red Bull team seems to have lost some of its luster in 2012. Thus, the Austrian team has “only” three wins and four pole positions, which in itself is an honorable record halfway through the season but is far from the 11 pole positions and 7 victories it had at the same stage of the 2011 season, or even the 10 pole positions and 6 victories of 2010, still after eleven Grand Prix races.
If Red Bull is at the top of the constructors’ standings, it is largely thanks to the consistency of its driver duo, whereas Felipe Massa and Jenson Button have sometimes let down their respective teams. In the drivers’ standings, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are, however, 40 and 42 points behind Fernando Alonso, respectively. More than the Australian, it is the level of the German that is most surprising, whereas at this time last year, he had a comfortable lead of 85 points over his teammate and 88 points over Lewis Hamilton, who was then in third place.
Thus, on the eve of the Belgian Grand Prix, Helmut Marko remains optimistic but acknowledges that the team really can’t afford any more mistakes: “The title is still entirely achievable for us, but Vettel needs to qualify better. He doesn’t need five wins, but he can’t have any more problems. Alonso’s streak [of points finishes] will end someday, and when it does, we must be there,” states the eminence grise of Dietrich Mateschitz in the Bild.
Certainly, the German dominates the qualifications less than in 2011, but he has achieved three pole positions so far this season, as many as Lewis Hamilton. However, Vettel has only converted a pole into a victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix, securing fourth place in Canada after his race strategy failed, while in Valencia, it was the alternator of his RB8 that let him down, depriving him of a victory that seemed unlikely to elude him.
As for Mark Webber, he achieved pole position in Monaco and now has two victories, first in the Principality and then at Silverstone. Thus, the Australian occupies second place in the drivers’ standings and is ahead of his teammate, which does not stop some from thinking that the Austrian team will try to favor Sebastian Vettel. A statement that Helmut Marko refutes: « With us, both drivers can be world champions, so Webber can also fight for the title. »
