MOTOR SPORT:RED BULL Racing clinched the Formula One constructors' championship with a comprehensive 1-2 victory at yesterday's Brazilian Grand Prix, but the team's unwillingness to ask Sebastian Vettel to cede victory to team-mate Mark Webber still leaves Ferrari's Fernando Alonso firmly in control of the driver's title race as the season heads towards its climax next weekend in Abu Dhabi.
With Vettel and Webber comfortably in first and second yesterday in what was otherwise a pedestrian race, both having passed surprise pole-winner Nico Hülkenberg on lap one, the question was, with Alonso hovering in third, whether Red Bull Racing would make a similar call to the one delivered by Ferrari to Felipe Massa at the German Grand Prix. There the Brazilian driver, when asked if he understood he was slower than Alonso, had moved over to hand the Spaniard victory, and more crucially, seven precious championship points. Here the answer, as it has been all season from Red Bull, was an emphatic no.
Aside from a brief moment late in the race when the safety car entered the fray after Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi had crashed out at turn two, Webber was never able to get close to Vettel as the German expertly controlled the race from the front, even setting a sequence of fastest laps in the immediate aftermath of the safety car just to be sure Webber was kept at bay.
“An incredible day,” said Vettel of the constructors’ title win, achieved just six seasons after the team made its Formula One debut in 2005. “I saw Nico (Hülkenberg) had a bit too much wheelspin (at the start) and I went down the inside. He didn’t leave a lot of room, but just enough.
“After that I was able to disappear into the distance,” he added. “I could control the race from there. I don’t really know what to say, it’s just incredible for the team – not an easy season, especially after races like we’ve just had in Korea. To get the whole team here, a 1-2 and get the constructors’ one race before the end is fantastic.”
Less fantastic, though, for Mark Webber. The Australian went into this race accusing the team of “emotionally” supporting his team-mate and of regarding his title bid as “inconvenient”. Once again support for his championship bid was at a premium yesterday as the team’s bosses stuck by their insistence on letting their drivers race for the title, but Webber’s second place means his chances of taking a first crown improved marginally, an 11-point deficit to Alonso now shaved to eight points before the final race.
Webber, though, admitted he had not expected the team to ask Vettel to move aside. “It helps (team orders) but it’s not the team’s philosophy,” he said. “It was a good drive by Seb today for the win. The team is going for the position it has always done on the sporting side and that is how it is.
“Fernando got some points at Hockenheim (via team orders), which happened in the past and will happen in the future. Everyone has different ideas and that is how it is. I still have a good chance and will go to Abu Dhabi and do my best.”
His best may not be good enough. In the races both have completed this season Vettel has outscored his team-mate 10-4 and, on pace alone, the German has the edge, having outqualified Webber 12 to 6 so far.
Consistency of points scoring, however, has given the Australian a slim advantage as the season goes down to the wire.
Asked if he would now expect his team to implement team orders in Abu Dhabi, Webber said: “Depends how it is on the last lap.”
Alonso will head to the Gulf state still in the box seat, knowing that if Webber wins he has to finish second and if Vettel takes the victory he can relax even more, the Spaniard only need to finish fifth or better to take a third world title.
