Publications
Partners
ISTANBUL. Turkey - Mark Webber has ruled out any repeat of 2010's Red Bull "road rage" for the Turkish F1 GP after he and World champion Sebastian Vettel qualified next to each other on the front row of the grid.
The two team mates collided in the 2010 race while fighting for the lead and under pressure from both McLaren cars and left the Istanbul circuit blaming each other, the team atmospher heavy with accusation and recrimination.
Webber, who started that race on pole but finished third after the crash, had handed a 1-2 finish to McLaren. This time around he said lessons had been learned but technical changes would also help them to avoid trouble.
'NOT IDEAL RACE'
The new driver-operated moveable rear wing (DRS) makes overtaking easier and means the chasing driver can line up the car in front and sweep past at a given point with far less risk.
"I think that in 2010, when I was in this room, (the media centre) there was a different atmosphere," Webber said after qualifying second with Vettel on pole. "It wasn't the ideal race. There was a bit of momentum coming into that GP, a few different stories here and there, so in the end there was contact, we had a crash.
"It happens in motor racing, very rarely between team mates, but it happened. It's a bit more straightforward these days. The racing is still intense but the DRS and things like it make it a bit less intense in some ways. You can only do so much."
'LEARNED A LOT'
Webber and Vettel were fighting for the title in 2010 with Webber the Aussie arriving in Turkey on the back of consecutive wins and leading the championship. This time Vettel is the champion; he's won two of the three races to date to lead the standings.
Webber said: "I think we both learned a lot from last year, not just in that situation but in some other situations. At certain stages tomorrow (race day) of course, if we're racing each other... there might be times when we're close to each other and of course we're not going to repeat what we did in 2010.
"Wisdom helps, DRS also. It's changed the racing a little bit."
The two team mates collided in the 2010 race while fighting for the lead and under pressure from both McLaren cars and left the Istanbul circuit blaming each other, the team atmospher heavy with accusation and recrimination.
Webber, who started that race on pole but finished third after the crash, had handed a 1-2 finish to McLaren. This time around he said lessons had been learned but technical changes would also help them to avoid trouble.
'NOT IDEAL RACE'
The new driver-operated moveable rear wing (DRS) makes overtaking easier and means the chasing driver can line up the car in front and sweep past at a given point with far less risk.
"I think that in 2010, when I was in this room, (the media centre) there was a different atmosphere," Webber said after qualifying second with Vettel on pole. "It wasn't the ideal race. There was a bit of momentum coming into that GP, a few different stories here and there, so in the end there was contact, we had a crash.
"It happens in motor racing, very rarely between team mates, but it happened. It's a bit more straightforward these days. The racing is still intense but the DRS and things like it make it a bit less intense in some ways. You can only do so much."
'LEARNED A LOT'
Webber and Vettel were fighting for the title in 2010 with Webber the Aussie arriving in Turkey on the back of consecutive wins and leading the championship. This time Vettel is the champion; he's won two of the three races to date to lead the standings.
Webber said: "I think we both learned a lot from last year, not just in that situation but in some other situations. At certain stages tomorrow (race day) of course, if we're racing each other... there might be times when we're close to each other and of course we're not going to repeat what we did in 2010.
"Wisdom helps, DRS also. It's changed the racing a little bit."