RajDatta

Vettel commited a cardinal sin. It's up to RBR management to decide who runs the show. A complete nightmare for christian horner.

Sit him down for a race. Have a fill in. This way you could still score some points but spank Vettel to let him know he is not above the team.

perfectlap

Remind me again what happened last week with Alonso?
Aka the driver who his fans proclaim to be better than Prost?
Prost would have pitted and bagged points.
That's how he won an F1 title in 86 without the best car, not ALMOST.

ltc

In all honesty, I think Luca got a major pants tent based on Vettel's actions this past weekend.

Vettel exhibited exactly what Luca admires in a Ferrari #1 driver.
I can definitely see DV being dumped early by Luca (e.g. Schumacher and Kimi) and Vettel taking his place at Ferrari.

RajDatta

It was a team decision. He followed team orders. It was not his choice. If you want to keep finding flaws, you always will..
What does last weekend have to do with Prost or 86?? sorry, I lost you there.

dbf73

notwithstanding the statement by SD, this is not totally clear.

btw, it is clear that DV refers to FA but what is it short for (musta missed the initial usage)

LuigiVampa

I'm not going to take away anything from any of these drivers. They are all talented and you make some valid points. However, Hamilton, much like Massa, has a problem keeping his head in the game when problems arise. Hamilton is one of the best drivers when his head is in the game. Look at what happened last year when he broke up with his girlfriend! At least Massa got hit in the head.

I don't think Alonso NEEDS a Massa type for confidence but Ferrari uses people like that as part of their strategy. He would do fine with a strong #2. Lets see how this year plays out now that Massa seems to be back on form.

Kimi is more like Alonso. Just give them a car, any car, and they will wring 110% out of it. Contrast that to Vettel who I think can get 100% out of the car he is given.

Next year should be interesting. With the new engines will come completely new cars and perhaps RB won't have the dominance they have now. Let's see how Vettel drives if he does not have the best car. That will be the true measure of his talent. Will he rise to the occasion or will he fold. Personally, I see problems for him unless RB has a dominant car again.

ltc

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull partnership cannot continue into 2014, reckons ex-Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore, who has been part of Webber's management throughout his F1 career.

Vettel's current contract runs to the end of 2014, while Webber's deal is for this year only at present.

Briatore believes Vettel's decision to pass Webber for Malaysian Grand Prix victory despite Red Bull ordering them to hold station with the Australian ahead destroys the relationship between the team-mates and could cost them the championship.
RED BULL TEAM ORDERS CONTROVERSY
Red Bull plans further talks with Vettel
Red Bull: Vettel's actions deliberate
Vettel apologises to Webber
Webber: Vettel stole the race win

"I think there's no relationship anymore," Briatore told RAI Radio.

"It was already very formal beforehand between the two Red Bull drivers, that was very clear last year.

"Now Vettel says he will help Mark, but Mark doesn't need any help. He should have won the race, and it's possible that Vettel will win every other race.

"I don't think this relationship can be fixed. They are two professionals, they will win races and so on, but it's unthinkable that Mark may help Vettel in the future and I don't think Vettel will help Mark.

"So we'll have two enemies inside a single team, and this will hopefully advantage Ferrari."

Mark Hughes' GP report: Red Bull animosity spills over

Asked if he now expected Webber or Vettel to leave Red Bull after 2013, Briatore replied: "That's for sure. Last year, already, there were problems.

"Their car is very competitive so drivers want to stay there, but [Sepang] was proof that no one is in charge at Red Bull.

"Vettel is the boss there. You can't have a team manager also doing the driving."

Briatore accused Red Bull team boss Christian Horner of weakness, alleging that the power balance between Horner, technical director Adrian Newey, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko and company chief Dietrich Mateschitz is flawed.

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel Red Bull F1 2013 Malaysia"If there was a manager with *****, he would have had them switch positions again," said Briatore.

"The problem is that there are two people with different ideas on the pit wall, with Helmut behind them doing the talking with Mateschitz, so you understand they are all scared."

He also criticised the fact that Newey was on the podium rather than Horner.

"Normally the team principal goes on the podium at the first race win of the season," said Briatore.

"Christian didn't even have the strength to get on the podium - because they're terrified with a driver in charge instead of the team manager. You'd first go yourself if you win the championship or the first race, and after that you'd send race engineers or your technical director.

multi21

I believe Ferrari and Alonso had to make a decision within about a
Minutes time and given the speed he showed with a twisted front wing thought they could get another lap out if the car and wait for drier conditions. It was a calculated risk that didn't work out but I can't blame Alonso or Ferrari for their strategy.

perfectlap

A high maintenance girlfriend is much more difficult to contend with than being in a comma.


completely disagree.

Kimi will drive the wheels off any car no matter who his team mate is. He knows what he's doing.

Alonso can't step into the car with 100% confidence unless he knows the team are fully behind him and not the other car. He gets distracted by the politics. He gets insecure. This is how a rookie kid beat him as a 2X's champion at McLaren.
By the end of the season he was unhinged, blackmaling the team, throwing darts at Ron Dennis' photo, etc.

Kimi and Hamilton are the two best racers in F1. They just have a life outside of F1 that's probably a lot more interesting than the rest of the drivers. Maybe too interesting for their own good.

multi21

I thought it was interesting that Newey was in the drivers room after the race and not Horner. Newey is brilliant, but he looked nervous like he knew he'd have to break up a fist fight. Both Web and Vet have too much respect for Newey to get into it and that's why I think he was there.

If Horner would have been in that room, it's possible there could have been a 3 way fist fight.... not that he doesn't deserve it....

Oh the drama.....

Carrera51

Funny, there is still zero talk about Webber nearly running Vettel into the pit wall. No one made him do that. Could have taken them both out with that move. I think Webber gets away with way too much on the track.

perfectlap

After getting punched in the back by a Redbull manager, I think Scott Speed would agree.

Schumacher must have been sitting in his barka lounger smiling "Das ist gut ....I've taught mein boys well."

ltc

Wasn't that someone from Toro Rosso and not Red Bull Racing?

ltc

Pete,
They had enough time to be waiting in the pits with a new nose and tires.
Agree, its' early in the season and easy to gamble, but it just seemed unnecessary.
It was beginning to dry, Alonso is the best at everything, including wet weather driving, he would not have lost that much time...at least not compared to a front wing induced DNF.

In other words ... it was Petrov's fault

LuigiVampa

I think it was just a "brush off" to show him how he felt. Was it the safest, smartest thing to do? No. But these guys are the best drivers in the world. I'm sure it looked a lot closer on TV.