The Korean Grand Prix ended with one RB6 caked in mud and another in fire extinguisher foam.
This couldn’t have been a more crushing result for Red Bull.
Having annexed the front row of the grid for the eighth time this year they came away with nothing after a crash and a blown engine.
Sebastian Vettel | Mark Webber | |
Qualifying position | 1 | 2 |
Qualifying time comparison (Q3) | 1’35.585 (-0.074) | 1’35.659 |
Race position | ||
Laps | 45/55 | 18/55 |
Pit stops | 1 | 0 |
Open lap times interactive chart in new window
Sebastian Vettel
Looked out of sorts in practice, hampered by a puncture in the second session and struggling in traffic on Saturday morning.
But it all came together in qualifying where he edged Webber by a tiny margin to claim his ninth pole position of 2010.
Pulled out a 2.8 second lead in the first lap of the race, though his advantage was erased by the return of the safety car. When the safety car came out for a third time he had a 5.7 second lead over Fernando Alonso.
He led every lap until the 46th tour, when his Renault engine died as he passed the pits:
This is not a nice moment, but I think it was a difficult race for all of us today. To be at the front of the field for the whole race, controlling it and looking after the tyres, I think there’s nothing more we could have done.
All in all we did an almost perfect job today and also yesterday in qualifying. It was getting dark towards the end of the race; I had a medium visor on my helmet and it was hard to see some of the bumps on the track or the reference for braking, but the guys finished the race so there must have been some visibility.
Sebastian Vettel
It’s the latest in a string of car problems for Vettel in races and qualifying, which also compromised his performance in Bahrain, Australia, Spain, Canada and Turkey. The team confirmed the unit he was using was on its third race.
Compare Sebastian Vettel’s form against his team mate in 2010
Mark Webber
Headed Vettel in Q2 but had the tables turned on him in Q3, leaving him second on the grid.
Crashed out on lap 19 resulting in his first no-score since the European Grand Prix and losing the championship lead to Alonso:
It was totally my fault, I got on the kerb on the exit of Turn 12 and it was a very slow-motion moment off the back of that kerb – it was my mistake and it wasn’t my day.
I thought I’d managed to catch it, but I lost the car and made contact with the wall, nothing too heavy, but it was enough to bring the car back to the other side of the track and then Nico hit me, which wrecked his race as well.
Conditions were okay by the time we were racing – on the edge, but okay.
Mark Webber
Compare Mark Webber’s form against his team mate in 2010
2010 Korean Grand Prix
Image © KAVO
Megawatt_Herring
25th October 2010, 17:11
The broblem with red bull is that they seem to reach their peek on saturday, after that it all seems to go downhill. Although drivers aside they are looking very strong to win the constructers title.
Dianna
25th October 2010, 19:02
@ Megawatt..Well if what you say is true then all the more reason that they should not win the constructors title.
No point in constructing a car that can only be dependable on short bursts of speed.
I would rather trust a Maclaren or a Mercedes,at least their cars are built for stamina and plenty of straightline speed — and those engines keep going to the end of the race.
So if RB win this the title is meaningless.
Megawatt_Herring
25th October 2010, 20:30
Not all of the problems red bull has had on the Sunday has been the car, there have been planty of driver errors such as Turkey and velencia, being the first two that spring to mind.
Also the red bulls cars are reliable enough to finish otherwise they wouldn’t have any points and in my opinion “Any car which holds together for a whole race is too heavy.” quote from Colin Chapman.
Lastly if they do win the constructors then they will have shown to have the best balance between reliability and speed out of all the other teams.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
25th October 2010, 22:31
If they win the Constructors Chapmionship it’s because they have the most points. :)
baracca
25th October 2010, 23:47
COTD please!!
or like somebody said (who? I can’t remember) “winning a football match is the easiest thing in the world. All you have to do is score more goals than the opposition”
Dianna
26th October 2010, 20:02
Well perhaps the Constructors Championship point system needs a new evaluation overhaul.
Ady
25th October 2010, 17:14
Alonso’s comments about not needing to upgrade his car any further spring to mind.
RBR should have walked away with both championships by now. If you take those statistics and apply them to the remaining races, he’s was expecting a race like this for them.
chemakal
25th October 2010, 20:14
when did alonso say that??
baracca
25th October 2010, 23:51
Ferrari (i.e. Luca, not Alonso) said a few races back that no major upgrades would be coming for the rest of the season. Maybe Alonso said that but I didn’t hear it.
Ady
26th October 2010, 7:44
I saw the interview on the BBC, but it’s not on their site any more. The following article quotes some of what he said, but not the first bit when he was talking about the upgrades:
http://en.espnf1.com/japan/motorsport/story/30370.html
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:25
Alonso says that; but Ferrari have continued to bring some decent upgrades to the car at pretty much every race since Alonso made that comment! Unlike Mclaren, Ferrari’s updates have worked straight away, pretty much. I was expecting more from McLaren and their famous rate of development…
sumedh
25th October 2010, 17:33
I think Korea should put an end to the debate of whether Mark Webber is really a top-level driver.
He has had the fastest car, and has had no mechanical retirements, just 1 5-place penalty at Canada. But he still isn’t leading the championship.
I agree that Vettel is not the best overtaker, and his mistakes in Turkey and Belgium were really amateur errors. But still, Vettel is the better of the 2 Red Bull drivers, and deserves a more reliable car. Or is Vettel the reason for his high number of failures, this Vettel-Red Bull-Newey partnership is now looking eerily similar to Kimi-Mclaren-Newey partnership back in 2003-2005.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th October 2010, 18:15
ah… yeah, we alrady forgot about Monaco =)
David-A (@david-a)
25th October 2010, 18:46
That and Spain appear to be the exceptions, seeing how those might have been the only races where he hasn’t been passed by half of the field by turn 1.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
25th October 2010, 19:48
Vettel lost much more points due to dumb driver errors than Webber. Besides Spa Turkey, there are also Hungary (failing to stay awake behind the safety car) and Silverstone (where his frantic actions after the start landed him a puncture).
DaveW
25th October 2010, 20:12
They Newey-Kimi thing is interesting. Back then, the Mercedes motor was blowing up every five minutes (when it wasn’t some odd little niggle like the REAR WING FLYING OFF). Now, it’s that poor Renault motor seems to be the achilles heel again. Could it be that Newey’s radical packagding is not engine-friendly? Renault should just come out and say that Newey’s tricks have voided the warranty and they should not come out and apologize for future failures.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
25th October 2010, 22:34
Interesting point Dave, you don’t really see those things happening on the factory Renaults.
baracca
26th October 2010, 0:02
I like Mark, he is a good consistent driver but hardly brilliant/aggressive enough for a WDC. He still might get it this year, but only because he landed in a car clearly superior to all the rest, and his teammate (though clearly faster) is too unlucky and has made some major mistakes on top of that.
Too bad for him if he finally doesn’t get it this year. Because time is rumning out for him and he might not get another chance.
JuanFanger
26th October 2010, 8:55
Korea should put an end to the debate of whether Mark Webber is really a top-level driver just like Spa put an end to the debate of whether Fernando Alonso is really a top-level driver.
They all make mistakes, and as someone else has already pointed out Webber doesn’t make as many as Vettel.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th October 2010, 9:17
Would love to hear the verdict on Alonso after Spa. So Juan… are you saying Fernando Alonso is not a top level driver???
JuanFanger
26th October 2010, 12:02
Without doubt Alonso is a top level driver and if I had to rank the current lot I would probably put him avante.
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:28
I suggest that you watch the 2007 season review, JuanFanger. Take note of the reigning double-world champion at the peak of his powers; and his young rookie teammate, who’s learning the tracks.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
25th October 2010, 17:45
Korea should be more of a positive influence on Webber than Vettel, I think. Webber should get a kick up the backside and I think will bounce back strongly in Brazil.
As for Vettel, he surely must be thinking that its just not his year now. On the other hand, he now has absolutely nothing to lose now.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
25th October 2010, 21:08
On the other hand though Korea will have damaged Webber’s confidence, whereas Vettel should only feel great about his driving and know that he did everything he could. I would expect Vettel to bounce back in Brazil more so than Webber.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
25th October 2010, 22:13
if valencia didn’t damage webber’s confidence, i don’t think this will. he’s tough, man enough to accept the mistake and move on. he’ll be right up there in brazil.
popz
25th October 2010, 17:50
Not a huge Red Bull fan but anyone who can knock Alonso off from the top of the leader board is welcome to do so. Disappointed that Vettel’s engine blew up, I really thought he could win the championship from there. I understand the British public don’t like him that much (very much the media’s fault in my opinion – Schumacher comparisons and crashing in to golden boy at Spa didn’t help) but if it wasn’t for the 60+ points taken away from him due to reliability problems, he would be running away with it!
He may not be my favourite but I really couldn’t help but feel sorry for him because he is a great (developing) driver. Up there with Hamilton. Better luck next year mate.
chemakal
25th October 2010, 20:17
yep, the media has been very kind to Alonso in GB, therefore you love him
Steph (@)
25th October 2010, 17:57
I felt really sorry for Seb. He put in a brillaint performance in the race and qualifying despite the conditions on Sunday and his troubles during practice.
I actually also felt a lot of sympathy for Mark. It was his mistake 100% but in the wet when it’s so tricky it’s so easy to do. Alonso made a very simialr mistake at Spa and that really hurt so I’m sorry to all the Webber fans who ahd to watch. Obviously it was worse for Seb who didn’t put a foot wrong at all and had the win taken from him.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
25th October 2010, 21:16
Yep. I felt terrible for both of them. Before the race I’d said I wanted to see a DNF from Webber in the interest of tightening the championship back up, but when it happened I felt awful for him.
JT19 (@jt19)
28th October 2010, 0:19
Wow, I loved it!! the only guys who reveled in the 2 red bulls not finishing were the ferrari guys, mclaren guys and me!! i was sitting in my bed saying to myself over and over again, “mark get out the car, get out the car!” As soon as he did, excitement to myself was an understatement. Sorry Mark
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
26th October 2010, 2:06
I felt sorry for both drivers too, but I also (strangely) felt a little bit of satisfaction when Webber retired because it lost him his points lead, hence tightening the championship. And then when Vettel retired I could not believe his luck, but then I thought of how much this will help Hamilton and immediately I thought; “well, if the two Red Bulls have to retire once this season, let this be it and the last time too.” Now we have a much tighter 4 way battle for the championship, but ideally we need Vettel to win from Hamilton in Brazil. And then we can have Mark win the championship in Abu Dhabi! (The perfect season…)
Todfod (@todfod)
26th October 2010, 9:29
U gotta feel sorry for Sebastian, after a couple of stupid driver errors, the media started turning on him, but in the last 4 races he just put his head down and has outclassed his teammate on the track. If it wasn’t for a ridiculously large number of mechanical problems that came at the worst possible time for him, he would have sealed the championship by now.
Mark on the other hand, I have no sympathy for. After driving an RB6 with no major reliability problems all year, he still has managed to blow his lead in the WDC. His drives in Australia, Valencia and Korea have convinced me that he is not WDC material, and I would much rather see Alonso, Vettel or Hamilton take it from him.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th October 2010, 9:33
Plenty of fans did too.
Robert
27th October 2010, 23:04
Real fans don’t turn.
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:33
I’ve never rated Vettel as one of the very best. The masses took to him too soon. They underestimated the performance of his Newey-designed Ferrari-engined STR. They overestimated the performance of his team-mate. Perhaps, like Bernie who’s only interested in the show, they were desperate to highlight someone other than Hamilton, who, as a rookie, had just dispatched his reigning double world champion team-mate. But Hamilton is the King of F1.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th October 2010, 18:20
The champ was over had Sebastian managed to win the race.
As it is, it’s a much better situation for Webber right now than before, even with the 11 point gap to Alonso.
It’s a lot more difficult to beat Seb who’s driving the same machinery who’s also, lets face it, faster than Mark.
Mark should be “reasonably happy” after all. This kind of mistake is not uncommmon, it was just badly timed.
xabregas
25th October 2010, 18:48
At least, for now, red bull will take the constructor´s championship which is very good, shows they have the best car out there and 2 really good drivers.
But what i´m looking for in red bull is what strategy are they going to play for the next races, puting all the eggs in webber´s basket or give a chance to both of the drivers to win the driver´s title ??
Going to be interesting!!
My oipnion is that if they stand now against team orders like they usually say, this championship is going to end up like 2007 if alonso doesn´t have mecanical issues with his ferrari.
Mario Balza
25th October 2010, 18:49
It is the first time that I see a Formula One car in that state. It was a complete shame the result for RedBull, fortunately, for them, there are two races left. And Alonso, well, for me he didn’t win the race, he just found the first place based on incidents during the race.
Julian (@julian)
28th October 2010, 10:26
If alonso didn’t win then who did :P haha
F1iLike
25th October 2010, 19:10
And also in Spain and Monaco Vettel’s chassis was defective and that’s most likely the reason Webber had the upper hand at those tracks since once he got a new one he was right back comfortably in font of Webber.
It’s just insane he’s gotten such bad components. It’s Kimi Raikkonen all over again..
Patrickl (@patrickl)
25th October 2010, 19:52
Vettel didn;t have the upper hand after he gotten his new chassis. Turkey, Webber was leading. Canada, Webber was faster in qualifying but got a grid penalty.
It wasn’t until Valencia when Vettel managed to outqualify Webber by a whopping 7 hundreths of a second and then go on to win the race that he finally got “the upper hand”.
And then Vettel whacked by the stupid stick in Silverstone, Hungary and Spa …
US_Peter (@us_peter)
25th October 2010, 21:19
Surely you must meen he was whacked by the Hamilton-stick?
US_Peter (@us_peter)
25th October 2010, 21:20
Uh. I mean “mean” not meen. Where’s that edit button when I need it? Guess I need to look before I leap.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
25th October 2010, 22:16
don’t forget the stupid, stupid start in germany. i thought he’d have learnt after silverstone…
Jelle van der Meer
25th October 2010, 20:13
I actually think that Red Bull is to blame for the blown engine, WHY use an engine for 3rd time considering that there are 2 long straights which would have certainly be their weakness in a dry (as expected) race?
They gave Webber a fresh engine, why not give Vettel an engine that was only used once, why take the risk when you have a spare engine?
It is a real shame for Vettel he has lost 63 points in 3 races he was comfertable leading due to mechanical failure, (Bahrain – 4th, Australia retired and Korea retired).
Aussie Fan
26th October 2010, 7:43
Bbecause he doesn’t have enough engines left, & Webber does. All things that alot of people don’t think about when they make rash judgements on why one teammate is faster than the other on occasion.
Not many people seem to consider other variables like engine wear, fuel maps or whether or not people may be playing the championship game, rather than just needing to go for the fastest lap every race.
At the end of the season we will see whom deserves to be world champion, for taht person WILL be world champion. Until then all this is pure speculation.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
25th October 2010, 20:56
I’m actually not surprised about Red Bull’s engine troubles. Remember Valencia last year when Vettel had 2 fail on him in the same weekend?
Something is not right with the installation of that engine, Renault don’t seem to have nearly as many problems. After all Horner’s smokescreen attacks on the power deficit maybe he should focus more on what they do with the engines once they get them.
Red Bull should get the constructors’ championship because they really have made the best car. As far as the drivers’ championship goes though…let’s say my enthusiasm for Webber’s chances is currently running on sentimentality rather than awe of his performances (of which he has had many but are falling on average).
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
25th October 2010, 22:50
There are certainly a few people on the forum that are wondering what Red Bull are doing with the Renault engine.
RE: Webber, I sometimes wonder if he is the kind of person that has to be the underdog to motivate himself to get the best out of himself and his car. Maybe he really doesn’t like being on top.
Ace
26th October 2010, 5:12
About Webber being the underdog, I agree very much.
In a way, I suspect he’s slightly relieved that he’s no longer leading the championship. This gives him a chance to release that little bit of tension behind the wheel and really attack. That’s what he’s good at.
Dianna
26th October 2010, 20:08
Yes he is,ask Rosberg!!
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:37
Webber’s simply not used to winning. He’s never been in a top team before; and that Red Bull is now a top team is surely as much a shock to him as it is to everyone else. He doesn’t know how to cope with the pressure. He’s driving a car that’s as good as anything Schumi had in his career relative to the opposition….
bigredbears10 (@bigredbears10)
25th October 2010, 21:00
i’d be really curious to see a few photos or a video of Webber immediately after Seb’s engine gave out…
Siv
25th October 2010, 21:13
I was a Webber fan until he bottled it. I’m sure he went into this race feeling the pressure to perform and to gain back the momentun he had earlier in the season. Maybe now that he’s chasing, he’ll do better but Alsonso is too good to just give it away easily.
I would still like him to win the championship but if he doesn’t this year, that’s it for him. He’ll be No2 driver at Red Bull next year, no doubt. If RBR put their eggs in the Webber basket (e.g. giving him the win in Japan and 2nd in Singapore) he’d have it practically sewn up by now.
Robert
27th October 2010, 23:16
“was a Webber fan until he bottled it.”
That sums up too many of the people on this site.. wannabe sports psychologists and turncoats.
Mr draw
25th October 2010, 21:54
As always, Red Bull failed miserably. Red Bull may win the constructor’s championship, but since they refuse to “favour one driver”, they won’t win the driver’s championship. Sadly but true. Alonso is laughing his ass off.
Palle
25th October 2010, 22:38
RBR is just following the rules, as most teams, except Ferrari, who – IMO – should have had both their drivers Black-flagged in Germany…With 25 points of Alonso’s acount – and more to the others, the tension would also have been tighter now.
xabregas
25th October 2010, 23:57
I´m much more curious to know what´s going to be red bull´s strategy.
They ( red bull ) should really listen to you, that way, they won´t loose their integrity in there speech, but still loose the championship.
The problem is, they don´t listen to you or remenber what was their beautiful speech after germany, doesn´t suit their situation anymore.
baracca
26th October 2010, 0:25
Red Bull can afford to lose the WDC but they need to be perceived as nice. It is quite different in Ferrari.
Winning the WDC is Ferrari’s raison d’etre. If their tactics are perceived as too harsh, they don’t give a hoot.
RBR are a part of RB, a company that sells energy drinks. Having a great F1 team is good promotion. But if the team is perceived as ruthless, it hurts the bottom line, even if they win the WDC.
So they are adamant in that they won’t use TO. Although it might have been a bit different if Vettel had been on top, TO or not, the kind of mistreatment Mark is receiving is probably not good for the company. I would like to know if the sales of Red Bull down under are suffering.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th October 2010, 9:56
Come on… the kind of mistreatment??? He is obviously not half as fast as Vettel. Red Bull agreed on not favouring one driver until its mathematically improbable for one of them to win the WDC. This was Horner’s philosophy, and Webber and Vettel completely agreed. It would be too hypocritical of them to suddenly start supporting Webber, after those ‘holier than thou’ comments made by Horner after the German GP.
Additionally, its high time Webber starts beating his teammate on track anyways. If Vettel had more points than Webber in the championship, he wouldn’t require Webber’s help anyways, just because he is that much better than him. Unfortunately, Webber cannot beat his teammmate, and now he just has to deal with it on track.
Mikos
25th October 2010, 23:55
I’m still a webber fan, and was really, really dissapointed by his error. But you need a selective memory not to have seen anyones favourite driver make a clunking error at one time or another, there’s are human factor which makes them capable of errors – which is part of what makes f1 so great. Its a small margin between getting away with an error like Hamo at Spa (and being remembered for a great drive) and ending up in the wall as webber did.
I’m frustrated by redbulls stated ‘race to the end of mathematical possibilities policy’ as its hampering them and contributing to Webber and themselves losing to Alonso and Ferrari the drivers championship. It also misreads the nature of the comptetion.
My opinion they should have backed the leading driver which in the case was webber after 75% – 80% of the season around Italy, and back vettel in as much as a backup, i.e. should webber retire via mechanical or otherwise vettels there for the win anmd potential WDC. Why? becuase ferrari had done so with Alonso and Massa’s clear 1 and 2 driver status and the fact that other cars were going to be as comptetitive (or more so) on the remaining tracks.
I think had the shoe been on the other foot and the roles reversed (vettel ahead) they would have done so at least privately and influenced the outcomes.
I think it’s an interesting debate and I believe comes down to whether in f1 the ends justify the means. I’d argue that it’s results that are remembered and if you are up against a team like ferrai who has clearly decided the ‘ends justify’, you need to alter your tactics. If Alsonso wins WDC no-one will remember Horners high minded let the drivers race to the end policy – they’ll only remember him as a team boss that didn’t maximise the drivers /teams potential, and in my view misunderstands the nature of competing in f1.
I would love Massa at Brazil to be ahead of Alonso…what an ethical dilemas.
Mikos
26th October 2010, 0:10
I should ad – what I’d love to see is Massa ahead of Alonso racing for the win at Brazil…but I’d prefer to see webber romp away with it and Alonso retire!
xabregas
26th October 2010, 0:52
Don´t forget Massa “gave” to Raikonen the 1º
position in 2007´s Brasil race so if needed it´ll happen again.
The truth is i don´t believe Massa can pull that off, he is to far way of alonso´s pace.
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:21
If Massa gives the win (or serious points) to Alonso, he’s finished. If he doesn’t give the win (or serious points) to Alonso and he can, he’s finished. If he can’t give the win (or serious points) to Alonso, he’s finished.
In summary, Massa is finished as a top-line driver in a top-line team. He should look to a new team to rebuild his tattered reputation and image. I would advise him to go to Renault. Kubica is way overrated: no one would expect much from Massa there. But he would exceed expectations.
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:13
Red Bull is Vettel’s team: Red Bull won’t back Webber over Vettel. How anyone can doubt this is amazing. There have been rumours throughout F1 history of one team or another favouring one driver or another. But how many teams have instantly and nigh unanimously blamed one of their drivers over the other for a 50:50 racing incident?! How many teams have taken the new front wing off of one car and given it to the other driver because he broke his one?!
Christian has recently gone on record as saying, publicly, that Red Bull are building the team’s future around Vettel: this whilst Webber has a much better chance of winning the WDC! Red Bull could do with a Massa in the no: 2 car, not Webber.
Regis
26th October 2010, 0:00
Webber is just not a top class driver, he should have the title in the bag by now.
Vettel is fast but reckless and not lucky this year.
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:03
With by far the best car on the grid all season, the Red Bull drivers are in danger of losing the championships they should already have won.
I’m surprised more hasn’t been made of Webber’s crash. Why did he turn his wheel so that he would come back onto the racing line? Why didn’t he just turn into the wall, off the racing line, and hit the brakes. I seriously think he was gunning for Lewis. Nico tweeted this:
‘Don’t understand why Webber didn’t hit the brakes. Was crazy (evidently) to roll back over the track’.
JamesC1991
26th October 2010, 1:29
RBR must back Mark now.
Vettel will have his moment next year or sometime in the coming years,this is Marks best ever chance to win a championship and if he doesn’t do it this year then he never will cause time is not on his side and is not a top class driver like Alonso,Hamilton,Kubica and Vettel.
The pressure got too Webber on sunday,after the SC you could almost sense he was going to drop it cause he was very lose on the opening lap after the SC went in and then eventually dropped it.
I’m a Vettel fan and was truly gutted for the whole day on sunday,the guy drove a brilliant race,probably the 2nd best of his career after Monza 08 and for it too happen so near the end was just heartbreaking and he has lost 66 points due to car problems this year,so any silly Webber fans who say Mark has been quicker all year and deserves to be ahead of Sebastian are talking utter garbage,even though he had that strong spell from Spain to Montreal.
with Seb it’s like watching Kimi who I also support all over again from 2005 when he had so many engine failures it was a joke and the common theme is Newey,always builds a brilliant car but seems to be highly unreliable.
Vettel really should be out of site but it’s part of F1 and if Red Bull have any sense they will give Webber the No 1 role.
Mikos
26th October 2010, 1:42
Couldn’t agree more, and good to read a pragmatic opinion from a fan with some objectivity. As I’ve statedd I’m a webber fan, have been for ages since he was walking away from flipped mercs. Webber fans have to have some perspective too – he’s not as quick as vettel at majority of tracks, but if vettels something special webbers no slouch and theres not alot in it. I think the pressure got to him too, he did a greg norman (golf anyone?).
I unfortunately saw it coming too, I think the no team orders and the fact vettel is so quick contributed to the pressure. It’s a bit like what Brundles said about having shumacher at his best as a teammate. You think you’ve nailed the lap and the guy next door is a tenth quicker, at some point that impacts on you. At least Webbers destinies in his own hands now.
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:16
Christian, Helmut, Newey, Dietrich, et al, might have a different opinion! Red Bull is Vettel’s team. That McLaren isn’t Hamilton’s team can be seen first in their hiring a top quality driver such as Button; and their not insisting on his helping Hamilton – to their detriment, I might add.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
26th October 2010, 2:32
How does the pendulum swings? Webber started the race with 14 points lead in the WC after the chequered flag now he is 11 points behind the WC leader.
John Cousins
26th October 2010, 2:48
It’s interesting that people say that webber is not a “top class driver”. He has had to work his way up through the **** teams by posting results that punch well above his cars potential. Until he was paired with Vettel he demolished every single one of his team mates and whilst the “wonderkid” (-cough) is maybe a tenth faster, he lacks the overtaking ability of Webber and still (in my humble opinion) lacks the mechancl sympathy that is required to pilot a Newey built car. He has proven on a number of occasions (germany, brasil last year and Monaco / Silverstone this year) that he can drive away from the rest of the field when he is in the right frame of mind and until now he was leading the DRIVERS championship…. for gods sake, enough of the Webber bashing. I give you permission to bash his starts though…. terrible :)
Mikos
26th October 2010, 5:48
They should back webber based on probability and looking at possible outcomes alone. If my calculations are correct Alonso needs to finish 3rd and 4th to win WDC from both Vettel & Webber if Vettel wins both final races and Webber finishes second: Alonso 258, Webber 256, Vettel 256, what a great way to sell enegy drinks, second place!
To many probabilities favour alonso at this point. Barring alonso breaking down on the parade lap, getting a 10 place grid penalty or starting from outside the top ten in Brazil, vettel should be helping webber in any way possible to maxmise points and see it as not his year and be looking to future years as team no 1.
scott
26th October 2010, 6:33
Their is no doubt vettle is faster but you need to know
that Webbber is the TALLEST and one of the heaviest (because of his height) drivers in the field.)
Negatives
1# Seb weighs 64kg (roughly) and mark 74 this means that in the same space as vettle webber is carrying an extra 10kg. obviously this is the minimum weight of car and driver but this 10kg changes the weight distribution of Mark RB6 campared to vettles while vettle has the heavier car his car is better balanced because the extra weight is in the car not the driver.
2# Vettle is 5 foot 7″ webber 6 foot 1″ thats 4″ for every mm webbers head sit out of the car this slows him down so he has to fit 6 1″ in virtually the same space as vettle, this would be terribly uncomfortable for him.
3# another interesting Fact is that the magic weight is 69kg why you ask? because 3/4 of the current world chapions racing in F1 have a exact weight of 69KG i dont think Webber and Jenson and bad driver i think they are highly comparmised simply becasue of their height and weight they have to drive lighter cars to compensate and this wrecks their weight distribution f1 need rules to fix this. :(
Mikos
26th October 2010, 6:50
I’d heard this although I wasn’t aware the exact weight rule of 69kg would have that impact. I think James Allen was saying before the korean race that at a previous point in the season redbull made a modification that assisted with acceleration / traction out of the corners and since that update vettel has been more comfortable with the car and subsequently outqulified mark more often.
JamesC1991
26th October 2010, 11:51
yeah I agree 100% with your comment Mikos under mine.
Only logical thing Red Bull can do now is too give Mark the No 1 slot especially considering what happened at Silverstone and after the Turkish GP crash,team is been built for Sebastian but for this year they must give Webber a chance to win it because as I said already he is not exactly in his prime although he has driven superbly all year apart from Melbourne,Valencia and Korea
Dave
26th October 2010, 15:04
And thanks to BBC switching for switching to BBC2 – I missed the last 15 laps!
Alistair
26th October 2010, 20:06
Apparently, the BBC is getting hundreds of complaints about this. It’s a bit daft, since the race was replayed in the afternoon and is now on iPlayer: ‘making the unmissable, unmissable’.
ecclestoned
26th October 2010, 16:00
Red Bull really shot themselves in the foot now with their equal treatment approach.
Last year that was the obvious way to treat their drivers(Vettel’s first year at RB),but not this season.
Had they simply chosen the driver who scored best in the 2 previous seasons as their number one:
The Turkish incident would not have happened,Mark wouldn’t have forced Sebastian off track in Silverstone and in Hungary the pits would have told Mark to fall back a couple of lengths behind the safety car since Vettel was doing “too good” a job of holding up the pack for him,and couldn’t be reached due to radio transmisson problems.
Red Bull could have clinched the WCC by now and Vettel could be leading the WDC by 34 points to Alonso (even considering an equal amount of misfortune and technical issues on his car)
Instead,realistically,their best shot at the WDC title now should be to back Webber as their number one with his lead of 14 points over Vettel and just 2 races to go.
In that case I suppose they’d better start looking for a driver to build a team around for the future..