Where Will Webber Go In 2014?

[pabloh20 1]

Nobody can know what is in Vettel's mind except himself. He might not want Kimi there because he's a stronger driver than Webber, but that doesn't mean he thinks Kimi would beat him. Just means he knows it's more difficult to beat Kimi and more of an annoyance. All champions have expressed such sentiments before regardless of what they say about the joys of having a strong team mate, from Rossi in MotoGP to Senna, Schumi and Alonso in F1. All great talents in control of a team, and none of them interested in having a super strong team mate unless it was necessary for their own success. I don't actually think Vettel would be that worried about Kimi as a team mate, even though he may express a preference against it, because F1 drivers like Vettel are super confident in their own abilities.

Yes they are, unless you are using a different definition of friend. They meet up away from the track and in the paddock plenty of times. Watch an F1 press conference and see them talk throughout. Yep, they're friends. Probably in actuality one of the closer friendships between drivers in the paddock these days. It's obvious to anybody they are very similar in their dispositions and humour so it's unsurprising.

Now, whether a friendship like that has any influence on whether Vettel wants him as a team mate is a different thing (it doesn't), and whether it could last if they were team mates is difficult also. But those are different matters. For the moment, they are friends.

In a nutshell, exactly.

[pabloh20 1]

They might talk together but it does not mean anything.If Kimi goes at rb, you will see this "friendship" evaporate in no time.

If it did happen, then plenty of friends have fallen out over less, doesn't mean they were never friends.

[Emmcee 0]

Webber and Vettel got along quite well in the beginning, Prost and senna. So yeah kimi and sebs friendship won't last long at all if kimi goes there. And ill bet all the money in the world it will be seb who starts it. Simply because he won't be able to figure out kimis speed.

[The Shadow 0]

All champions have expressed such sentiments before regardless of what they say about the joys of having a strong team mate, from Rossi in MotoGP to Senna, Schumi and Alonso in F1. All great talents in control of a team, and none of them interested in having a super strong team mate unless it was necessary for their own success. I don't actually think Vettel would be that worried about Kimi as a team mate, even though he may express a preference against it, because F1 drivers like Vettel are super confident in their own abilities.

JB going to McLaren was an exception to this. He went in and took over the reigns when many predicted career suicide

OMG!!! Is JB Senna?

Senna!!!

FFS!!!

[KoolMonkey 0]

After seeing the details on how Webber announced his retirement, I'm glad he is leaving. This is yet more proof that he was Mateschitz' boy and was it appeared to me aloof from the rest of the team. This has shown in his comments and actions over the years. It also makes his comments after Malaysia about Vettel having the usual protection of the team hypocritcal. He's like the teachers pet. He can do and say things, be rotten and know Mateschitz will have his back.

With Horner only finding out an hour before it went public, Webber knowing 6-7 months ago he was going to retire, and Mateschitz also knowing, all I can say is good riddance to Webber. He was never a team player, and there only for himself. That's ok. Vettel is there for himself too, but why then the endless BS comments from Webber stating things otherwise.

I really want Kimi to go there. Thus it's both exciting and a little scary as Vettel has a good chance of beating him comprehensively. RBR might not be willing to tweak and change the steering to Kimi's liking, and a whole lot of other car changes. But having worked with Newey in the past, he's going to have that relationship there already and I believe there are a few others from his McLaren days who are at RBR as well. Didn't one of his engineers go there some months back?

Anyway, it's a relief for me to see Webber gone as he was a sh*t stirrer in my opinion. He didn't fit in and he didn't do things to help to the team. Brazil 2012 will go down as the best example of that.

[Emmcee 0]

Are you for real? Webber helped build that team, Vettel jumped on board at the right time. As for him being "teachers pet", why not its the only support he has in the whole team. They blame webber for turkey 2010 what a joke. Webber had racing line,taking normal line out of the corner, seb thinks just because your along side someone it's ok to chop infront. Come on. If webber had the exact car as Vettel which he did in 09-10 IMO but hasn't since, he would be alot closer. I prefer webber telling it how it is rather than listening to vettel's tantrums, he blamed Bruno senna for there coming together in brazil 2012 and he plain and simply turned in on him. If Vettel was in the lotus, and was wearing grosjean's helmet. You wouldn't know the difference IMO. Just majority of the time Vettel starts at the front. When he doesn't 90% of the time he will have an incident. He thinks he can pass everyone on the first lap. But it's cool man that your opinion and I respect that, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[KoolMonkey 0]

Are you for real? Webber helped build that team, Vettel jumped on board at the right time. As for him being "teachers pet", why not its the only support he has in the whole team. They blame webber for turkey 2010 what a joke. Webber had racing line,taking normal line out of the corner, seb thinks just because your along side someone it's ok to chop infront. Come on. If webber had the exact car as Vettel which he did in 09-10 IMO but hasn't since, he would be alot closer. I prefer webber telling it how it is rather than listening to vettel's tantrums, he blamed Bruno senna for there coming together in brazil 2012 and he plain and simply turned in on him. If Vettel was in the lotus, and was wearing grosjean's helmet. You wouldn't know the difference IMO. Just majority of the time Vettel starts at the front. When he doesn't 90% of the time he will have an incident. He thinks he can pass everyone on the first lap. But it's cool man that your opinion and I respect that, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

That's my view yes. I have no issue with Webber being the teachers pet if he would have shut up about it with regards to how Vettel was being treated by Marko. That's what I dislike about him so much. He get's lauded for "telling it like it is", yet it's a whine, a moan a big whinge. It's BS basically to make a stink about Vettel getting protection when it was clear then and even more so now Webber himself had even greater protection from the very top. It's hypocritcal and destroys alot of interest in a driver. He would have done so much better by just keeping his mouth shut.

I'm pretty sure I explained the differences quite clearly in another thread on here about having "different" cars. No 2 drivers in any team have the same car due to their own personal setup preferences. But I won't go into that all over again.

I didn't mention Turkey because I think they were both to blame. But Webber nearly taking out Vettel in Brazil 2012 is in-excusable to me. You cannot defend what he did. Nor his chopping in front of Vettel at Malaysia 2013 after crossing the finish line. That was both dangerous and stupid. There are other examples too of Webber stating publicly he wasn't going to help Vettel, and wanting Alonso to take the title. Thus how does it matter then if Webber was in RBR before Vettel? He's showing disloyalty. And I challenge anyone to come out and say had it not been for Mateschitz' protection, he would have been gone from that team long ago. It's not good practice to keep someone who is actively trying to destabilize ones own team around. Because Webber showed very little team loyalty at all. That doesn't mean he was up to it each race, but looking at his RBR career there are too many incidents to ignore, too many comments, too many situations to see it just was not working out with him in the team. And he did not appear to be trying to fit in either.

[Emmcee 0]

I disagree this all boils down and started IMO when Vettel refused to help webber in 2010, of course he is going to diss the team if he isnt getting equal treatment and that's what they mean by telling it how it is. That's what mateschitz likes about him. I would have chopped across Vettel to if I was told he wasn't going to pass and nearly takes both them out in the process and for what just so Vettel can have the points instead of webber, rb where guranteed 1 and 2. Would have been turkey all over again if they touched and Vettel would have blamed webber again even though he was told not to pass. He didnt receive nothing from the team at all for that. That IMO is way worse than anything webber has said. Vettel has now shown he will do what he wants and not what the team likes, THAT is not loyalty, that's greed and one day that will cost seb and rb dearly. Those fastest laps he sets on the last lap, why its just stupid he will put it in the wall soon. We know he is good but no need to show of.

[rwgordon 0]

Disappointing that Horner's attitude was, "He should have told me first!" rather than, "We are sad to see Mark leave, he's done a lot for us"

[Emmcee 0]

IMO mark told the only person he needed to and that's his boss that pays his salary. He did it the right way, if he told them months ago he would be at more of a disadvantage than he is now. Just because he is leaving I still think he wants to fight for wins till the end

[Jean-Pierre 0]

This Ricciardo guy is debasing the opportunity by being very impressive when it counts. Wow! What a performance!

[Jean-Pierre 0]

I meant "seasing" the opportunity - not even sure of the spelling, but you understand.

[Emmcee 0]

Yeah he did real well, just hope the tr has the pace to last for the gp