Warfare at Red Bull
At the drivers’ press conference after the Japanese Grand Prix of 1997, Eddie Irvine was asked about the race in a room packed with perplexed journalists. He had driven spectacularly well, at one point overtaking two cars in the same manoeuvre, and looked every bit the driver of the day. Then he had, bizarrely, moved aside to let his Ferrari team-mate, Michael Schumacher, take the lead of the Grand Prix and then spent the rest of the race defending Schumacher from being challenged by Jacques Villeneuve. It was difficult for anyone to understand this behaviour and the journalists wanted an explanation. “Well,” said Irvine, “as soon as I had got the lead it was simply a matter of waiting for the phone call. Once it came I knew what to do.”
Irvine was this blasé about Ferrari’s blatant favouritism of his team-mate because there was no misunderstanding about his role at Ferrari. He had signed a contract which clearly stipulated that he was the number two driver; and he was paid handsomely for his trouble. In other words, Irvine was happy with his lot. In racing terms, he had signed a bum deal but in everything else he was content. He drove the best car for the richest team and earned lots of money. The fame of being associated with as illustrious a racing history as Ferrari meant that he was never lacking in opportunities for wide ranging Ugandan discussions with an endless stream of nubile lasses.
Fast forward to 2010 and we have an almost identical situation at Red Bull. But, as was made clear yesterday, the crucial difference is that Red Bull are not as fastidious about contracts as Ferrari were in Schumacher’s days. We did not know anything definite (but had good grounds for suspicion) about the team’s preferences until yesterday when Mark Webber screamed “not bad for a number two driver!” as he took the chequered flag to win the British Grand Prix.
Red Bull arrived at Silverstone with a specially designed front wing which was installed on Mark Webber’s car for qualifying on Saturday. When it became clear that the new front wing on Webber’s car worked better than the inferior one on Sebastian Vettel’s car, the powers that be ordered the mechanics to take Webber’s wing off his car and fix it onto Vettel’s. Webber still managed to qualify in second place but he was seething with fury after it. Even his father was concerned about the Australian’s state of mind. When they sat down to breakfast on Sunday, the younger Webber could hardly eat because he was so angry.
Come the afternoon and Webber translated the anger he was feeling into driving brilliance. As soon as the lights went out to indicate the start of the Grand Prix, Webber elbowed his team-mate aside at the first corner and knew then that he was going to receive his first ever British Grand Prix trophy less than two hours later. Despite the best efforts of second-placed man, Lewis Hamilton, Webber never once looked in danger of losing his lead, such was his determination.
Vettel, meanwhile, suffered a puncture in the melee and dropped to the back of the grid. Such was his courage and brilliance, though, that he never gave up and fought his way through the field to seventh place. But despite the respectable haul of constructors’ championship points the team earned yesterday, there is no disguising the poisonous situation at Red Bull. Civil war has erupted within the team. Mark Webber’s mechanics were openly taunting Sebastian Vettel’s lot after the race and mischievously waving a front wing at them. Webber himself won a crucial race but nevertheless felt it necessary to say in the press conference thereafter that he would never have agreed to extend his contract with Red Bull if he had known the team would treat him like it did on Saturday.
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal seems to have failed to realise two crucial and related factors. First, if you are going to have a ranking of drivers in your team, it is helpful if you notify the concerned players in advance. Secondly, the only effective way to have a number one, number two driver relationship in a team is to have both drivers sign contracts clearly specifying this. Instead of receiving the congratulatory chats with the media which team principals usually enjoy after winning a Grand Prix, Horner spent all of his time after the race defending his curious thinking during qualifying on the previous day. At one point he needed to remind everyone what had just happened. “By the way,” he said, “we’ve just won the f***ing British Grand Prix!”
Formula One drivers have massive egos – it goes with the territory. Red Bull need to massage Mark Webber’s ego rather a lot now if they are to retain any sense of team harmony for the remainder of the season.
If F1 drivers are sensitive souls, none come anywhere close to the self-importance routinely displayed by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. I have lost count of the number of times I have yelled “get over yourself, you Spanish twit!” at the television over the years. Yesterday was perhaps the best example I have yet seen of vintage “Alonso the prima donna” behaviour. He had a poor start to the race and tangled with Robert Kubica in an over-enthusiastic overtaking manoeuvre. When he received a drive-through penalty for this the red mists descended in the Spaniards helmet. “No more radio for the rest of the race,” he hissed at his team. The Ferrari recipient of this command understands how to manage prima donnas in high dudgeon. “Okay mate,” he said meekly. And Alonso fumed his way to finish out of the points without radio contact with his team. He needs to calm down as he will soon run out of time to reduce the deficit between himself and the championship leaders.
Contrast Alonso’s behaviour with that of Jenson Button. McLaren’s upgrades to their car have not really worked well and both he and Lewis Hamilton struggled in qualifying. Hamilton squeezed pace out of the car and managed to qualify in fourth position, but Button could do no better than fourteenth. Still, Button was able calmly to fight his way up to fourth place on Sunday. Second and fourth places at their home Grand Prix does not look like a bad afternoon’s work for McLaren, whichever way you choose to look at things. With Red Bull’s internal problems and Ferrari’s non-performance, McLaren are increasingly looking like the team to beat.
With ten races gone, the top ten drivers in the championship now stand as follows:
1. Lewis Hamilton 145 points
2. Jenson Button 133
3. Mark Webber 128
4. Sebastian Vettel 121
5. Fernando Alonso 98
6. Nico Rosberg 90
7. Robert Kubica 83
8. Felipe Massa 67
9. Michael Schumacher 36
10. Adrian Sutil 35
It is still tight at the top but the gaps are now widening. Watch this space…
Gitau
12 July 2010
Irvine was this blasé about Ferrari’s blatant favouritism of his team-mate because there was no misunderstanding about his role at Ferrari. He had signed a contract which clearly stipulated that he was the number two driver; and he was paid handsomely for his trouble. In other words, Irvine was happy with his lot. In racing terms, he had signed a bum deal but in everything else he was content. He drove the best car for the richest team and earned lots of money. The fame of being associated with as illustrious a racing history as Ferrari meant that he was never lacking in opportunities for wide ranging Ugandan discussions with an endless stream of nubile lasses.
Fast forward to 2010 and we have an almost identical situation at Red Bull. But, as was made clear yesterday, the crucial difference is that Red Bull are not as fastidious about contracts as Ferrari were in Schumacher’s days. We did not know anything definite (but had good grounds for suspicion) about the team’s preferences until yesterday when Mark Webber screamed “not bad for a number two driver!” as he took the chequered flag to win the British Grand Prix.
Red Bull arrived at Silverstone with a specially designed front wing which was installed on Mark Webber’s car for qualifying on Saturday. When it became clear that the new front wing on Webber’s car worked better than the inferior one on Sebastian Vettel’s car, the powers that be ordered the mechanics to take Webber’s wing off his car and fix it onto Vettel’s. Webber still managed to qualify in second place but he was seething with fury after it. Even his father was concerned about the Australian’s state of mind. When they sat down to breakfast on Sunday, the younger Webber could hardly eat because he was so angry.
Come the afternoon and Webber translated the anger he was feeling into driving brilliance. As soon as the lights went out to indicate the start of the Grand Prix, Webber elbowed his team-mate aside at the first corner and knew then that he was going to receive his first ever British Grand Prix trophy less than two hours later. Despite the best efforts of second-placed man, Lewis Hamilton, Webber never once looked in danger of losing his lead, such was his determination.
Vettel, meanwhile, suffered a puncture in the melee and dropped to the back of the grid. Such was his courage and brilliance, though, that he never gave up and fought his way through the field to seventh place. But despite the respectable haul of constructors’ championship points the team earned yesterday, there is no disguising the poisonous situation at Red Bull. Civil war has erupted within the team. Mark Webber’s mechanics were openly taunting Sebastian Vettel’s lot after the race and mischievously waving a front wing at them. Webber himself won a crucial race but nevertheless felt it necessary to say in the press conference thereafter that he would never have agreed to extend his contract with Red Bull if he had known the team would treat him like it did on Saturday.
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal seems to have failed to realise two crucial and related factors. First, if you are going to have a ranking of drivers in your team, it is helpful if you notify the concerned players in advance. Secondly, the only effective way to have a number one, number two driver relationship in a team is to have both drivers sign contracts clearly specifying this. Instead of receiving the congratulatory chats with the media which team principals usually enjoy after winning a Grand Prix, Horner spent all of his time after the race defending his curious thinking during qualifying on the previous day. At one point he needed to remind everyone what had just happened. “By the way,” he said, “we’ve just won the f***ing British Grand Prix!”
Formula One drivers have massive egos – it goes with the territory. Red Bull need to massage Mark Webber’s ego rather a lot now if they are to retain any sense of team harmony for the remainder of the season.
If F1 drivers are sensitive souls, none come anywhere close to the self-importance routinely displayed by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. I have lost count of the number of times I have yelled “get over yourself, you Spanish twit!” at the television over the years. Yesterday was perhaps the best example I have yet seen of vintage “Alonso the prima donna” behaviour. He had a poor start to the race and tangled with Robert Kubica in an over-enthusiastic overtaking manoeuvre. When he received a drive-through penalty for this the red mists descended in the Spaniards helmet. “No more radio for the rest of the race,” he hissed at his team. The Ferrari recipient of this command understands how to manage prima donnas in high dudgeon. “Okay mate,” he said meekly. And Alonso fumed his way to finish out of the points without radio contact with his team. He needs to calm down as he will soon run out of time to reduce the deficit between himself and the championship leaders.
Contrast Alonso’s behaviour with that of Jenson Button. McLaren’s upgrades to their car have not really worked well and both he and Lewis Hamilton struggled in qualifying. Hamilton squeezed pace out of the car and managed to qualify in fourth position, but Button could do no better than fourteenth. Still, Button was able calmly to fight his way up to fourth place on Sunday. Second and fourth places at their home Grand Prix does not look like a bad afternoon’s work for McLaren, whichever way you choose to look at things. With Red Bull’s internal problems and Ferrari’s non-performance, McLaren are increasingly looking like the team to beat.
With ten races gone, the top ten drivers in the championship now stand as follows:
1. Lewis Hamilton 145 points
2. Jenson Button 133
3. Mark Webber 128
4. Sebastian Vettel 121
5. Fernando Alonso 98
6. Nico Rosberg 90
7. Robert Kubica 83
8. Felipe Massa 67
9. Michael Schumacher 36
10. Adrian Sutil 35
It is still tight at the top but the gaps are now widening. Watch this space…
Gitau
12 July 2010
posted by Gitau at 4:31 pm
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