Vettel ignites Red Bull rivalry
Honest to God, it’s like we’re psychic here at Sporting Fare. No sooner had we speculated on the simmering rivalries at McLaren and Red Bull Sebastian Vettel decided it would be a good idea to run Mark Webber off the road and hand McLaren a one-two at the Turkish Grand Prix last Sunday.
Neither man was willing to accept blame for the collision which put Vettel out of the race and relegated Webber to third behind Hamilton and Button, but for us and almost everybody else the fault lay with Vettel for turning into his team mate. Interestingly, Red Bull boss Christian Horner seemed to find fault with Webber just after the race but we reckon he’ll have had time to reflect since and see that it was all down to Vettel.
Either way, he was rightly furious with his drivers. What should have been a third straight win for Webber and a one-two finish to strengthen Red Bull’s grip on the Constructors Championship was ruined in one moment of madness.
Smug smiles in the McLaren pit though as both Hamilton and Button regained ground in the Drivers Championship. The relationship between the two Englishmen seems to be holding strong in spite of the fact they are fighting each other for the title.
In Turkey they raced one another hard but, as both men pointed out, fairly. In the end both had to switch to fuel saving mode which meant that Hamilton got the win by default after some good racing between the two which saw a couple of overtaking manoeuvres. Team orders are, of course, illegal in F1 now but handily for the teams “saving fuel” remains a legal tactic and you can hardly blame McLaren for making sure both their men finished the race.
We can’t imagine Button was happy to give up the race to Hamilton but he put on an accepting public front. How long he is prepared to do this – or Hamilton for that matter – should the two end up really fighting for the number one spot we’ll have to see.
For now, attention switches firmly to Red Bull, Webber and Vettel. The next Grand Prix is in Canada on June 13th and should Webber out-qualify his team mate for a fourth race in a row you can bet that now obvious rivalry and resentment will once again come to the surface.
It’s starting to look like a four horse race but Red Bull still hold the advantage with a superior car over McLaren. Now they just need to make sure their drivers are, if not on the same page, at least not in the same racing line because McLaren are ready and waiting to take advantage of any mistakes.
This is all what Formula One needs, of course. Team mates racing each other for victories, a tight title race and simmering rivalries. Far, FAR better than a best car wins procession. Loving it.
