The man of the hour is Mark Webber. The Australian Red Bull driver has been in the spotlight not with his driver championship-leading points of 93 over his closest rivals but the stir he and his teammate Sebastien Vettel involved at the recently concluded Turkish Grand Prix.
The two Red Bull drivers lock horns after a disastrous collision of their cars on Lap 40 of the race. Vettel is trying to overtake his teammate but collided with the Webber that sent the German to the pits. Webber was still able to salvage third place after the two McLarens took the opportunity to overtake them during the incident.
After the collision, Red Bull management was bombarded with stories and questions about conspiracy within the team most especially somewhat 'bias' treatment of the two drivers. Webber somewhat feel that he is being blamed by the management on the incident. The Australian made an impression that journalists covering the games should dig deeper into the incident. After that announcement, Red Bull's team and both drivers were hot items of issues of biases, replacement of drivers, and conflicts within the teams.
Who is Mark Webber and how important he is to Red Bull?
Webber is only one of the two Australian to have won a Formula Race since Alan Jones made it in 1981. The Australian made his Formula One debut with Minardi F1 racing team in 2002 at his home race. He scored Minardi's first points in three years of joining F1. However, engine and mechanical problems beset him and his teammate Alex Yoong to force in retirement on most races.
In 2003, Webber transferred to Jaguar Racing as lead driver. During his two year stint with the team, he qualified many times on the front two rows. With an uncompetitive race car, he was a disappointment due to unreliable race car. Despite of the setback, he was still able to score points in several races during the season to barge into the top 10 of the World Drivers' Championship. His best race of the season came in Austria where he started from the pitlane for a drive-through penalty. Yet, he set the race's third fastest lap behind the Ferrari duo and finished in seventh place. He still continued to drive for Jaguar in 2004 and experienced the same problems he encountered in his maiden year with the team.
Williams F1 was Webber's third team in 2005 and teamed up with Nick Heidfield. He made good results in his qualifying races but unable to sustain it on race day. In the Malaysian Grand Prix, he started on the fourth grid and snatched the third position until a collision with Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella put him out of the race and podium. In the Monaco Grand Prix, Webber took third place and his first career podium finish.
In 2006, the Australian Webber was awarded the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy for his 10th place finish in Drivers' Championship points.
Red Bull Racing signed him in 2007 for a team up with David Coulthard in an RB3 car. The team made great strides as it making some progress with consistent qualifying finishes in the top 10. However, mechanical problems still haunts Webber and his new car. Webber made some impressive driving skills as he overtakes and made faster laps against some of the most prominent F1 drivers. These made the management think that Webber still has a lot of promises on a reliable car. He again finished at the podium for third place in the European Grand Prix after a sixth position start on the grid.
The year 2009 mark the emergence of Mark Webber, as a champion driver, as he collected some championship points for his Red Bull team along with German Sebastien Vettel. His break came at the German Grand Prix where he claimed pole position and the finish his first place result in the podium ahead of his second place teammate Vettel for a 1-2 Red Bull finish. He had another victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix and second place finishes at the 2009 Chinese, British and Turkish Grand Prix.
Red Bull has dominated the first sixth races with pole and front row positions in the qualifying races of the 2010 season. Webber added another first place podium finishes in Spain and Monaco. He has other runner-up finishes gave him 93 points to lead other drivers and establish himself as a strong contender for the Drivers Championship trophy. This also gave Red Bull a strong start in the Constructors' Championship.
The incident that hit Red Bull at the Turkish Grand Prix has created a lot of misunderstanding between management and their drivers in this early stage of the 2010 F1 season. Is Mark Webber responsible for the collision? Should he be replaced to avoid future rifts with his teammate Sebastian Vettel? His racing achievements and records should speak his value to the Red Bull F1 team.
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