Webber's "problems" are just a "set up" to benefit Vettel. Period.

[Valve Bounce]

Now one might think that is just me being crazy and forgetting to wear my tin hat, and is no more likely than having a team mate deliberately crash out to give another team mate a victory.....no way, you say....


Sure.....

Missed your ration of cool aid today, did you??

[Valve Bounce]

John Watson was on the radio this morning saying Horner should suspend Vettel for one race in order to reassert his authority in the team.

Mark! this is possibly the dumbest thing Watson ever said. The #1 Prize in F1 is the F1 Championship for the car, not the drivers' championship.

[dj_bytedisaster]

John Watson was on the radio this morning saying Horner should suspend Vettel for one race in order to reassert his authority in the team.

Helmut Marko would show him his authority in the nearest ditch. Imagine Brawn asking Schumacher to give away 7 points that early in the season, or Ron Dennis asking Senna to stay behind his team mate. Are you kidding? Vettel won the title by three measly points last year and here they are, asking him to give away 7 points just like that. Yeah, sure...

[Valve Bounce]

Next time he tries that, I'll string him up by the balls.

Ministerial stamp of authority may be too late

[airshifter]

John Watson was on the radio this morning saying Horner should suspend Vettel for one race in order to reassert his authority in the team.

That would be rather extreme IMO. I'd be fine if they make Seb drop a position to favor Mark and make it clear that team orders are team orders. Had Mark not finally backed off they could have trashed both cars.

[Jag_Warrior]

So calling someone a "Greek peddler" is not a compliment, huh? I wonder if Mark has unfriended or defriended (or whatever the kiddies call it) Vettel on MyFace or SpaceBook?

If Webber's description of the events was at all accurate, then yeah, he was wronged. My guess is, the team will pretend to take Mark's side. They'll pat him on the head and do whatever it takes (superficially) to calm him down. But in the end, right or wrong, they know which driver can be depended on to bring home the bacon - and that's not Webber. If Webber gets upset enough to leave (and at his age, what's he got - another season, maybe two?), the team will just scoop up another moderately talented driver to fill his seat. I like Webber. I've liked him since his days at Jaguar. But he's just another David Coulthard/Eddie Irvine kind of driver. He's not arguing from a position of strength or influence.

His situation sucks. Having a younger, more talented teammate who takes a dump on you whenever he feels like it, and the team can't/won't stop him? Yeah, that's gotta suck. And other than talk about it or make idle threats, there's nothing Webber can do about it.

[airshifter]

Great post Jag. My only real issue is that if in fact (which we now know to be true) Sebastian ignored team orders, the team should make it clear who writes the checks, and being a team player is not an option.

[Mark]

Which was John Watson's argument. Either way, a Vettel & Webber pairing at Red Bull in 2014 seems unlikely.

However that doesn't follow that Webber will leave. There have been Vettel to Ferrari rumours for a long while.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I don't get what all the fuss is about. There's the old saying - what goes around, comes around. Mark disobeyed the team at least twice in the past, only backing off after getting a second, stronger, message from the pits. The only difference in the whole saga is, that Vettel was ruthless enough to make the move stick. If that would have been Alonso vs Massa or Kimi vs Grosjean, we'd now have a dozen threads praising their manliness.
Let's be honest here. Most people merely see it as a chance to finally hate Vettel for a reason. Back in Silverstone '11 people were cheering Mark for taking a crap all over Horner's team orders, but if he is on the receiving end all hell brakes lose, because of who bitchslapped him. Drivers like Alonso, Senna or Schumacher wouldn't even have taken such crap from their teams.

[Zico]

I don't get what all the fuss is about. There's the old saying - what goes around, comes around. Mark disobeyed the team at least twice in the past, only backing off after getting a second, stronger, message from the pits. The only difference in the whole saga is, that Vettel was ruthless enough to make the move stick.

It might be the 'only' difference but you have to admit it is quite a huge one..