March 24, 2013
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Sebastian Vettel in Mark Webber apology after Malaysia win
Sebastian Vettel in Mark Webber apology after Malaysia win
By Andrew BensonChief F1 writerSebastian Vettel has apologised to Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber for passing him against team orders to win the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull drivers were told to hold station, with Webber ahead, after their final pit stops but Vettel ignored the call and overtook the Australian to win.
“I messed up. I would love to come up with a nice excuse or a nice story but I can’t. That’s the truth,” Vettel said.
“I can completely understand Mark’s frustration and the team not being happy.”
During the race, which Webber led from lap six, Vettel repeatedly went on the team radio to ask Red Bull to make Webber move over for him.
“Mark is too slow – get him out of the way. He is too slow,” he said at one point.
The team also repeatedly warned him to maintain a gap to Webber.
While Vettel was aggressively trying to pass Webber after their final pit stops, team principal Christian Horner went on the radio to say: “Seb, this is silly.”
But Vettel continued to attack and in the end Webber appeared to cede the position to the German, who passed him around the outside at Turn Four with 13 laps to go.
Webber said: “After the last stop the team told me the race was over and we turn the engines down [teams are limited to eight engines per season] and go to the end. The team made their decision. Seb made his own decision and he will have protection as usual.”
Analysis
Andrew BensonChief F1 writer“The Malaysian Grand Prix team orders controversy at Red Bull is only the latest episode of a long-running drama between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
“It goes right back to 2010, when the two crashed while Vettel tried to pass Webber for the lead of the Turkish Grand Prix.
“Since then, there has been a litany of further incidents at the team as the two men, both intensely determined and tough but very different in other ways, have battled for supremacy.
“Adding spice to it is Webber’s belief that, while they profess to allow them to battle it out on the track, the team is more behind Vettel than him.
“The belief – widely shared within F1 – is founded on the way the team have responded to the various situations between their drivers.
“In their battle in Malaysia there may even have been a bit of residual revenge on Vettel’s part – the German and his champion at Red Bull, motorsport chief Helmet Marko, felt Webber was obstructive in last season’s title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix.”
Vettel added: “I owe an explanation to him [Webber] and also to the whole team. Right now there is not much more I can explain. We talked about this many times before the race. It very rarely happens.
“Today it did and I should have translated the call into action. I just didn’t get the message. I got it. I heard it. But obviously no action followed because I misunderstood.”
When it was put to him that Webber had held station in similar situations in the past, Vettel said: “Now it is difficult to find the right words but I think in the past if we had a situation if we were close to each other we always used to fight.
“With the circumstances these days with the tyres not knowing how long you can go.
“It was an extremely big choice to [potentially] screw both of our races as in to not finish one-two, ignoring the order for a second and finishing eighth and ninth destroying the tyres in that two or three laps fighting, which we know can happen.
“I put myself above that decision today. I didn’t mean to. I can only say sorry, apologise.”
Asked if he was happy he won, Vettel said: “No, I’m not. As I said, I did a mistake. If I could undo it I would but I can’t so it is not a great feeling right now and surely tonight is not going to be easy to fall asleep. I owe a proper explanation and apology to Mark and the team.”
Red Bull motorsport chief Helmut Marko, a champion of Vettel’s within the team, said the situation had “got out of control”.
It is the latest of a series of controversial incidents between the two drivers over the last few years.
Webber added: “We have had a lot of history. I respect Seb. It is still very raw at the moment because we had a plan before the race…. I should probably stop now.
“It’s very, very, very hard for Seb to sit there when we are told to bring the car home safely. I turned the engine down and was reassured twice that we would not use the cars against each other.
Trio’s top form
- Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have all won the Malaysian Grand Prix three times.
“It’s very hard for people to understand the situation. They think they know what went on but they don’t.
“It puts a lot of heat on certain people. Unfortunately there is no rewind button but it will put some pressure on certain people. We have three weeks now before the next race and I will catch some waves on my board in Australia.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “Drivers are drivers. We’ve seen it the other way around as well at races in the past between our two drivers. We will sit down and discuss it.
“Sebastian knows that it was wrong. He has apologised but we will sit down and discuss it.”
“They haven’t been bosom buddies for a few years now. They’re both competitors. What Sebastian did today wasn’t right. He acknowledged that. He has apologised, he took things into his own hands.
“His desire to win was greater than the team’s desire to avoid a situation like Istanbul a few years ago [when they crashed racing for the lead].”
Asked what Vettel meant when he said he hadn’t done it deliberately, Horner said: “He felt he hadn’t heard the call. That it was unclear to him what the instruction was. But then again we had the same thing in Brazil the other way around.
“He’s obviously chosen to hear what he wants to hear. He’s a race driver, he’s competitive, he’s hungry. He hasn’t achieved the championships he has by not pushing the limits and he has pushed that today with his team-mate and the team.”
