NOT BAD FOR A NUMBER TWO DRIVER

Mark Webber may have noted the irony that his car carries the slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” following the controversy that engulfed his team during the British Grand Prix. Red Bull’s dominance at Silverstone was overshadowed by a bitter dispute between Webber and team management and it threatens to disrupt their entire season.

Red Bull brought two new front wings to the British Grand Prix and both drivers used them in combination with the existing bodywork during practice. At the end of the final session on Saturday morning, the new wing on Sebastian Vettel’s chassis broke away from the car at the nosecone and was damaged beyond repair.

With only one of the new wings remaining for qualifying, Red Bull made a controversial decision to remove it from Mark Webber’s car and place it on Vettel’s. This handed Sebastian a crucial advantage over his team-mate. The wing was worth roughly one tenth of a second per lap, and that ended up being the margin by which Vettel claimed pole from Webber.

The Australian made his displeasure well known at the time, and reiterated his bad feelings after taking an emotional victory in the race. Webber clearly feels disadvantaged by his own team.

RED BULL’S DECISION

Christian Horner has taken full responsibility for the decision and his point of view is understandable. The team only had one component available and had to choose which car would run it. They could have avoided using the wing altogether (and the gap back to Ferrari meant they would still have dominated qualifying) but it makes sense that Red Bull would seek every advantage possible in this close era of Grand Prix racing. It also makes sense that they would like to get as much mileage on the new part as possible.

That explains why the team would not leave the part off both cars in the name of partiality.

With that in mind, Horner had to favour one of his drivers, and he chose the team’s highest placed contender in the championship. This is perfectly logical and is as fair as such a decision could possibly be. Other teams have done exactly the same thing in the past and will often give newer parts to the more successful of their two drivers. It just so happens that in this instance, the two drivers are very close and are fighting for the World Championship. Horner repeatedly acknowledged that it was a very “difficult decision”.

WEBBER’S OUTRAGE

Although Red Bull’s logic is clear, it’s easy to understand why Mark would be so outraged with their decision, and why he feels that team management favours Sebastian.

There was only one wing available because it had broken on Vettel’s car. Therefore, if Webber had run the new part, that would have been a disadvantage for Sebastian as a result of his bad luck.

However, by taking the wing off Webber’s car, the disadvantage was imposed by the team and not by reliability. Although Red Bull had to favour on of their drivers, they intentionally created that disadvantage for one of them rather than leave the situation as it was.

Also, Horner stated that “performance in P3” was a factor in his decision. This doesn’t quite seem right. It’s entirely fair to make a judgement based on championship position, but not on raw speed in practice since Webber was on a different program to his teammate. Mark had an electrical problem on Friday and had to make up for lost track time with more laps on heavy fuel during the Saturday morning session.

Webber may have been held back in P3 by his own reliability problem the day before, and that should not have impacted Red Bull’s decision to disadvantage him in qualifying to compensate Vettel.

Although the drives don’t own the components on their car, and usually interchange parts throughout practice, taking something off Mark’s chassis and giving it to Vettel was very symbolic and very de-motivating.

It’s easy to see why Mark is so upset.

WEBBER’S COMMENTS

Webber has not stayed quiet on the issue and his remarkable comments have given the story life in the media. Red Bull will be disappointed that Mark hasn’t done his talking behind closed doors because his statements have only inflamed the situation.

Mark was very bold to publicly criticise Red Bull’s management, and it’s a sign that relationships have deteriorated significantly inside the team.

Webber initially made his feelings known after qualifying. When he was explicitly asked which of the two Red Bull cars had used the new wing during the session, Mark simply responded with “I think the team is happy with the result today”.

After the race, Webber became far less covert. As soon as the Grand Prix finished, Webber sarcastically told his team over the radio that his performance was “not bad for a number two driver”.

He followed this up in the post-race press conference by saying, amongst other things, “I would never have signed a contract again for next year if I believed that that was the way it was going to be” and poignantly described the win as an “appointment with karma”.

RED BULL MELTDOWN

In addition to Mark’s comments, there are other signs of the tension that exists within Red Bull. On the warm down lap Webber requested that one of his crew go up onto the podium to accept the Constructors trophy.

Christian Horner denied this request.

However, the most alarming sign of intra-team turmoil was this observation from London’s Daily Telegraph.

“Webber’s mechanics were said to have removed the ‘old’ front wing that Webber had been forced to race with and waved it at Vettel’s side of the garage.”

Drivers are used to fighting all the time but there has been a monumental team meltdown if mechanics in the Red Bull garage are also turning against each other. It certainly suggests that team management has not been particularly strong on this issue and there is a clear division beneath them.

Horner has since vowed to clear the air with Webber but he has a much bigger problem on his hands than a single upset driver. His own team is imploding and Red Bull is being forced to defend itself against an aggressive media.

MOVING FORWARD

All of this could have been avoided if Red Bull had originally blamed Vettel for the infamous collision in Turkey. They didn’t have to blame him for the whole situation (with the drivers racing each other on different engine settings) but could have made it clear that Vettel was responsible for the actual contact itself.

By blaming Webber for the crash, the team has exposed themselves to genuine accusations of bias, and their actions this weekend drew far more attention than what would normally have been expected.

Red Bull management completely mishandled the incident in Turkey and now have a more damaging PR diaster on their hands as a result.

Christian Horner’s actions over the coming weeks are going to have a significant impact on his team so he would be wise to choose his words carefully.

Given the tensions and infighting that now exist within Red Bull, and the detrimental impact this will have on the team, was it all worth it for the sake of a tenth in qualifying?

Christian Horner made a decision based on logic, but it might not have been the right one.