Mark Webber appeared on the latest episode of Top Gear (Series 20, Episode 6) on the weekend. He discussed the merits driving upside down, how much he will miss Sebastian Vettel and went second fastest on the Top Gear F1 lap charts, despite making a hash of the hammerhead.
Check out the video after the break, while you can.
Here we are with a bumper edition of F1 pics this week. There’s over 100 photos from the 2013 German Grand Prix for you below, there’s some really great images too. We hope you like them.
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) has won an incident-packed British Grand Prix, just 0.765 seconds from Mark Webber (Red Bull). Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) filled the final podium position.
But where to start with the drama this race contained! Off the start line Webber was slow to move, although it appeared he may have been ever so slightly baulked by Rosberg ahead of him. That put the Aussie in thick of the action going into the first corner and unavoidable contact was made with Romain Grosjean (Lotus). Webber was forced wide, with a damaged front wing, and rejoined the track in fifteenth place. His day seemed over.
Out front Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) made the most of his pole position to establish a two second lead over Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull). But on lap eight the story of the day, and Pirelli’s worst nightmare, emerged when Hamilton’s left rear tyre delaminated before it spectacularly exploded. He limped back to the pits and rejoined in last place.
Alas that was the first of four delaminations for the day with Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) to lose their left rear tyre in the same fashion as Hamilton soon after. As a result there was debris around all over the place and the Safety Car was deployed to clear the track.
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) inherited the lead from Hamilton and was able to post a small gap back to Rosberg after racing resumed on lap 21. Rosberg stayed in touch with Vettel, but on lap 41 the triple world champion coasted into the last corner with gearbox problems, stopping on pit straight. The Safety Car was brought out to move Vettel’s car out of harm’s way.
Webber, who had worked his way back through the field was in third place after Vettel’s retirement, came in for a final tyre stop coming out behind the Safety Car in fifth place. When racing resumed there were six laps remaining, Rosberg in the lead heading towards his third grand prix win. Webber looked the most likely to challenge, if he could overtake the cars ahead.
Shortly after the restart Sergio Perez (McLaren) suffered the final tyre blowout of the race, he was narrowly avoided by Alonso who was preparing to pass the young Mexican. Thankfully a Safety Car wasn’t needed and we were treated to an exciting race to the flag.
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) stood between Webber and Rosberg. Mark was able to quickly pass Ricciardo and Sutil in the chase for the lead and Raikkonen, on old tyres, was also overtaken without too much bother.
Less than two seconds separated first from second and Webber really needed to within one second of Rosberg so he could benefit from DRS. To Rosberg’s credit he was able to fight hard to keep his lead out of Webber’s reach to take the race win. Another lap or two may have seen a fairytale victory for Mark, but it wasn’t to be.
For all his troubles Lewis Hamilton also drove a great race and finished fourth. All of the top four drivers will have been pleased to have made some inroads into Vettel’s championship lead.
Daniel Ricciardo slipped down to eighth on his old tyres. His late fade out will be softened by the fact teammate Jean-Eric Vergne retired at about two thirds race distance.
It was a deserved win for Rosberg as the Mercedes AMGs were fast all weekend. He’ll take renewed confidence into next weekend when the German Grand Prix takes place at the Nürburgring.
The reaction to Mark Webber’s decision to quit Formula 1 and switch to endurance racing with Porsche has captured the attention of the media across the world.
To be honest we’ve been a little surprised by how much coverage there has been, especially in the F1 paddock. Perhaps that says a lot about the high regard in which Mark is held, where his no nonsense and honest approach is greatly appreciated.
So here’s a grab of some of the comments that have been made since Mark’s move to Porsche was announced, starting with the FIA’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
It’s interesting to note that Mark said his mind has been made up for some time, which adds more weight to the early rumours which first emerged in June last year and again in April this year.
Q: A momentous announcement from you today. Tell us the thinking behind the announcement of your retirement from Formula One. And how significant is the year, 2013 to 2014?
Mark WEBBER: Well, the timing is perfect for me. Very, very excited about my new chapter and the new challenge ahead. One of the most famous and most well-respected brands in automotive and motor racing in Porsche, so that’s something which personally I’m very satisfied about taking on. The decision has been there for quite a long time for me actually. So, I’ve known for quite a while, I’ve had a plan and I’ve stuck to it. But still, in the meantime, respecting the profession that I have now at this level and focusing on achieving very, very strong results in my last season in Formula One.
Mark Webber: factory Porsche driver. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think.
Sure, it’s not the most surprising news—over a year since it was first mentioned—but it’s now official that Mark Webber has been signed to drive for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, from 2014 on a multi-year deal.
Whether multi-year translates to the five-year deal mentioned in April, or a more circumspect two–three year deal is not certain at this stage.
Mark has been a Porsche enthusiast for many years and his expertise and setup skills developed in Formula 1 should be a great boost to Porsche as it prepares for its 2014 LMP1 program.
“It’s an honour for me to join Porsche at its return to the top category in Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship and be part of the team,” Mark said. “Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer and stands for outstanding technology and performance at the highest level.
“I’m very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world.â€
Porsche will run a minimum of two cars for the WEC series, with three likely for Le Mans. Other drivers confirmed for Porsche are Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, and Neel Jani.
Now that Mark’s F1 future is known the race will be on to see who replaces him at Red Bull Racing. Will it be Kimi Raikkonen or one of the Toro Rosso drivers, Daniel Ricciardo or Jean-Eric Vergne?
On the day Sebastian Vettel extended his deal with the Red Bull F1 team it is quite fitting that the first official photos of Mark Webber’s new car have been published by Porsche today.
Porsche works driver Timo Bernhard was at the wheel for the first test session in the 2014 Porsche LMP1, which took place at the company’s Weissach test facility. Although the timing of the run, so close to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is coincidental Porsche says.
“We are well on schedule,†says Fritz Enzinger, who heads up the LMP1 program for Porsche. “Our newly formed team has worked with utmost concentration on getting this highly complex vehicle on the track as soon as possible. This allows us a few additional weeks for more testing and further development. From 2014, the regulations are primarily based on efficiency. This makes the competition amongst engineers more interesting and presents us with completely new challenges.â€
Highlighting its commitment to the chase for outright success at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship, Porsche says it has assembled a team of 200 employees to help achieve its goals.
“I’m very proud that I was the one to take our baby through its first paces today,” said Bernhard. “Already now the car feels great. I look forward to testing the vehicle in the coming weeks and months with my friend and colleague Romain Dumas.â€
Look, we don’t want to keep talking about the fallout from the Malaysian Grand Prix, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Despite the weeks that have passed, Formula 1’s media spotlight is still pointing directly at Sebastian Vettel. And the three-time champ is only too happy to make the most of the opportunity.
Interviewed by Reuters ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, Vettel says he was faster and Webber didn’t deserve to win at Sepang.
Still claiming he didn’t understand the now infamous ‘multi 21’ instruction Vettel said: “Had I understood the message, then I think I would have thought about it, reflected on what it means, what the team wants me to do, to leave Mark in first place and me finishing second.
“And I think I would have thought about it and probably done the same thing because Mark doesn’t deserve that.”
When asked to expand on his comment that Mark didn’t deserve victory Vettel replied: “I don’t like to talk ill of other people. It’s not my style. I think I said enough. The bottom line is that I was racing, I was faster, I passed him, I won.”
On the question of trust with his Australian teammate Vettel added: “Being completely honest, I never have support from his side. I’ve got a lot of support from the team and I think the team is supporting both of us the same way.
“I respect him a lot as a racing driver but I think there were more than one occasions in the past where he could have helped the team and he didn’t.
“I wouldn’t call it trust to be honest. I think we have a professional relationship.”
The Webber–Vettel rift began after the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix and back then Red Bull was able to stage manage a reconciliation between the pair. We don’t think that will be happening again. It will be fascinating to see how the pair’s on-track relationship develops over the course of the year. This could get very ugly.
[Source: Reuters | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko wants us to believe there will be no more team orders at the reigning championship constructor. “Team orders won’t be given by us anymore,” he told Germany’s Sport Bild.
We’re not sure if Team Principal Christian Horner got the internal memo from Marko or is simply living in reality, but he has already told Sky Sports F1 that the team’s controversial multi 2-1 and multi 1-2 codes need some work, “both our drivers in the last three races have failed to understand both of those messages.”
Hinting that team orders may still be given from pitlane Horner added, “I think we’re going to give up on that code. We need to probably try something else.”
We’re not buying Marko’s claim. If the circumstances dictate and a championship result for Red Bull rests on the fate of team orders, management will not hesitate to make the call, make no mistake about that. This is Formula 1 and, like it or not, team orders are part of the sport’s culture.
[Source: Planet F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
The media’s ability to take a topic, run with it and blow it completely out of all proportion has been in full effect in the wake of Sebastian Vettel’s decision to ignore team orders on the way to victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix fallout. Mostly, we’re concerned with the Australian media, because that’s where our little world exists. The amount of ill-informed quasi-F1 fans in the media who have the luxury of a platform to display their ignorance is staggering.
Although, even the German media is getting stuck into Sebastian Vettel, well, kind of. Frank Schneider a contributor to Bild, Germany’s largest selling newspaper, has called Vettel a “dirtbag”.
“Sebastian Vettel has said it himself—on the track you have to be a dirtbag,” Schneider said. “For his win in Malaysia that’s exactly what he did. He behaved like a dirtbag then apologised for it afterwards.
“Vettel appears as though he was surprised by his own brutality. His killer instinct won’t make him more popular with his Formula 1 colleagues. But it is also what sets him apart from middle-of-the-road drivers.
“Vettel increasingly mirrors his idol Michael Schumacher whose lack of mercy led him to seven titles. Schumi was loved or hated. Vettel is on the way to being the same.â€
Three-time world champion Niki Lauda also weighed into the debate, in his role as a German TV pundit, “He forced the win against the team ethos and at any cost. That was a big mistake.â€
Former racer Gerhard Berger finally added some calm and reminded us that what we saw Vettel do on the weekend has happened before and will happen again. “To be a race winner you need to be very, very talented but to be a world champion, or to be world champion three, four, five times, you need to be extremely selfish,” said Berger.
“So of course after the race he is saying he is very sorry about it and that he cannot sleep, but I think he sleeps very well because this is his nature. And nobody, no team, no team chief, no team-mate is going to change it.â€
Meanwhile, in Australia much of the talk has been about Webber returning home to consider his future in the sport. Really?! C’mon guys Mark is made from sterner stuff than that. Thankfully, his old man has put things right this morning on ABC radio, confirming Mark will be ready to race in China.
And even Red Bull themselves have felt obliged to issue a team statement explaining that they’re dealing with the mess in-house (see below). Perhaps the biggest surprise in the fallout from Vettel is the gravity felt inside the walls of Red Bull. Publicly, at least, Sebastian hasn’t been given an armchair ride through this controversy from his employers.
Here at AUSmotive we’ve wanted to rant and rave at Vettel’s actions but just haven’t been able to find the anger within. And there’s two reasons why.
First, let’s assume Mark and Sebastian were free to race to the line at Sepang, at full pace with full engine power and scant regard for tyre wear. The chances are Sebastian would have found a way past.
Sebastian is a better driver than Mark, it’s that simple.
Secondly, is anyone surprised that Sebastian Vettel has proved himself, once again, to be a self-serving little prick? True, he has matured a lot in recent years and he does, at times, display a charming personality. But we’ve seen enough to know that nobody should have been surprised by Vettel’s actions.
So, let’s all move on shall we.
[Source: The Sun | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
If ever you doubt that Formula 1 is a sport where egos rule just come back and refer to this race, the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. It was won this evening by Red Bull ace Sebastian Vettel. On paper the results are nothing out of the ordinary but the three drivers on the podium may as well have been at a funeral such were the glum faces and all thanks to the dark shadows of team orders.
To tell the full story we need to go back to the start. Actually, make sure you’re sitting down for this next bit: Mark Webber (Red Bull) made a blinding start and from P5 was dicing with renowned fast starter Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) for P2 for most of the first lap.
Alonso’s part in this melodrama was short lived, he tapped Vettel on the entry to turn two and damaged his front wing. Sparks were flying from Alonso’s car and the wing gave up, falling off the car just as Webber overtook him on the main straight at the start of lap 2. With no front wing Alonso found himself in the kitty litter out the race and probably wondering why on earth he didn’t pit for a new wing at the end of the opening lap.
In the first stint Webber didn’t ever challenge Vettel for the lead but after the first round of pit stops, for a change, things went in Mark’s favour and he was leading the race.
It was a lead that Webber was able to maintain, as well. Although after exiting the pits following his final tyre change he had Vettel screaming behind his gearbox and had to fight hard to keep his teammate at bay. Yet, with 12 laps still to race history told us the outcome was inevitable, Vettel would pass, but when?
It didn’t take long and to be fair it was an epic fight between the two, with some spectacular wheel to wheel racing that would have kept the Red Bull management on the egdes of their seats. Finally, Vettel found extra grip and was able to get past Webber. Although, the noises from the team over the radio were less than encouraging for Vettel.
After the race the team added a caveat to its congratulations to Vettel, saying he would have some explaining to do. Webber was clearly unimpressed with Vettel and prior to emerging on the podium was heard asking Seb “Multi 21?” with a shrug of the shoulders. It’s now widely accepted that Multi 21 is Red Bull’s code for the drivers to conserve their cars and maintain position.
And so we come back to the dreaded team order debate in F1. It has since been revealed that after Mark emerged in the lead following the final pit stop that both Red Bull drivers, with a comfortable gap back to third place, were asked to turn down their engines, conserve their tyres and hold position. That is, all being equal Mark should have won the race.
On the one hand we applaud Vettel for being a racer to the end and taking the fight to Webber. But, really, for all Red Bull has done for Vettel, would it have killed him to follow the team’s wishes?
Speaking on the podium Mark made his feelings of displeasure known. “After the last stop the team told me the race was over and we turned the engine down to go to the end,” said Webber. “In the end Seb made his own decisions today and will have protection as usual, and that’s the way it goes.”
In post-race interviews Vettel has acknowledged his “mistake” and apologised to his teammate. “I took the lead from Mark, which I can see now he is upset about, but I want to be honest and stick to truth, and apologise,” said Vettel. “I took quite a lot of risk to pass him and I should have behaved better.”
Of course, this won’t be the last we hear of that little spat. In the interests of balance, we suggest those angry at Vettel’s decision to ignore his team’s wishes remind themselves of Mark’s drive in the 2011 British Grand Prix.
Which brings us to the other glum face on the podium, that of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG). Normally Lewis would be pretty happy with a podium finish, but in a second case of team orders for the race, he probably should have ended up fourth with teammate Nico Rosberg standing on the third step. Hamilton was ordered to conserve fuel which kept Rosberg behind him who asked the team if he could pass. Ross Brawn said no.
In the end Hamilton admitted he was a little embarrassed to be on the podium and that Rosberg should have been there. Although, perhaps Hamilton will be more red-faced about his first tyre stop when he drove into the McLaren pit before being waved away. He’s just lucky the Mercedes bay was not already behind him!
We’re not entirely sure what happened to Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) but after qualifying ahead of teammate Jean-Eric Vergne and spending a fair part of the race ahead of him he ended up being the last of the classified finishers in P18 some five laps behind Vettel. Vergne finished tenth and claimed the first championship point of the year for Toro Rosso.
Mark Webber’s second British Grand Prix victory is still fresh in our minds. It’s probably one of the first races Webber has won where he has been able to strike when a win looked off the cards. In his own words he wasn’t sure he could pass Alonso until he was right on the Ferrari’s gearbox.
“It’s taking a while to sink in this one. I think it was the circumstances of the race—for most of it I was marking off second place,” explained Webber. “Fernando was not quite out of touch and after the last stop, my engineer Ciaron came on the radio saying that Fernando was not doing much on the option tyres. But I know Fernando is a wily old fox, I thought he was looking after the tyres and just waiting to pull the pin and go a little bit.
“But when I got within two seconds I thought maybe he’s in a little bit of trouble and it was real. It was completely game on when I knew the DRS was available, I made the move stick and our hard work paid off for the win. It was a cracking grand prix today; the spectators got to see a good race and I’m pleased for them.â€
After the break we have a large selection of images to help you recount Webber’s ninth GP win. We do wonder what Mark was saying to Sebastian and Fernando on the podium.
Mark Webber has managed to make hay while the sun was shining at Silverstone and won the 2012 British Grand Prix. Webber headed home polesitter Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel.
The race itself was quite nondescript and, once again, it was tyre strategy that had as much influence on the result as outright race pace. Following the awful conditions for yesterday’s qualifying the teams weren’t expecting today’s sunny weather. Of course, a dry race start meant drivers were free to choose from either the soft or hard compound slicks.
Alsono and Ferrari played their card early by choosing to start the race on hards, while their competitors behind went for softs. For the most part it looked as though Ferrari had made the right call; Alonso led the majority of the race and was able to rejoin in the lead after making his final stop.
The soft tyres were the slower of the two compounds and Alonso saved them for last, while Webber ran them in his first stint. With 14 laps left to go it was soon apparent that Alonso would be at the mercy of Webber, as his soft tyres lost their grip. And so it came to pass on lap 48 with a sterling move from Webber to take the race lead around the outside of Alonso. From there Webber was able to hold station and win by three seconds.
It’s the Australian’s second win in 2012, following his victory in Monte Carlo, and the ninth of his career. Today’s win is also Webber’s second at Silverstone, adding to his “not bad for a number two driver” race in 2010.
We didn’t see much of Daniel Ricciardo today, but he did what he needed to do and out qualified his Toro Rosso teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, and then finished ahead of him in the race, even if it was only by a bit over two seconds.
Fernando Alonso continues to lead the drivers’ championship, albeit with his margin cut by 7pts thanks to Webber’s win. The Aussie remains second in the title race and is building some momentum. While Sebatsian Vettel’s third place has moved him into third in the championship as well.
Final placings and updated championship positions are listed below. We’ll have a bumper pictorial of Webber’s win for you in the next 24–48 hours.