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[mnmracer]

The 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix marked the third race in a row that a Red Bull encountered mechanical issues; Mark Webber’s KERS failed during qualifying, and then Sebastian Vettel's KERS was stuttering due to overheating in the race. As this is the last year of the explosive pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, I looked through the history books to see how mechanical issues, team orders, and clashes with each other have affected both Red Bull drivers.

2009
China: Vettel can only make one run in each qualifying session due to driveshaft problems.
Turkey: Vettel is given the team order not to challenge Webber for 2nd place.
Belgium: Webber had an unsafe release during his pit stop, leading to a drive-through penalty.
Europe: Vettel has to make a 2nd stop because of fuel rig problems, and then retires with an engine problem.
Singapore: Webber retires with a brake problem.
Japan: Webber has issues with his headrest, forcing him to make 2 extra pit stops.

2009 score card
Sebastian Vettel: 3 issues (2 mechanical issues, 1 team order), 1 leading to a DNF
Mark Webber: 3 issues (2 mechanical issues, 1 significant pit stop issue), 1 leading to a DNF

2010
Bahrain: Vettel loses the lead due to a spark plug failure, dropping him back to 4th.
Australia: Vettel retires from the lead due to a brake failure.
Spain: Vettel has brake issues late in the race, which drop him back from second to third place.
Monaco: After Monaco, it is found that Vettel's chassis was cracked.
Turkey: Vettel loses out on pole position due to a broken anti-rollbar.
Turkey: Webber loses the lead after Vettel colides with him.
Canada: Webber had to change his gearbox, leading to a 5-place grid penalty.
Canada: Vettel has gearbox issues during the race.
Britain: After a front wing failure left the team with one new spec front wing, Webber was given the old spec.
Germany: Webber had an oil pick-up problem late in the race.
Italy: Vettel's engine shortly died half-way through the race.
Korea: Vettel retires from the lead due to an engine failure.

2010 score card
Sebastian Vettel: 8 issues (8 mechanical issues), 2 leading to a DNF
Mark Webber: 4 issues (2 mechanical issues, 1 team order, 1 team-mate clash), none leading to a DNF

2011
Australia: Webber had KERS issues in Q2 and Q3.
Australia: Webber had KERS issues during the race.
Spain: Vettel had KERS issues during qualifying.
Spain: Vettel had KERS issues throughout the race.
Monaco: Webber had radio issues shortly before his pit stop.
Canada: Webber had KERS issues during qualifying.
Europe: Webber had gearbox issues later in the race, dropping him from 2nd to 3rd.
Britain: A faulty wheelgun at his pit stop drops Vettel from the lead into 2nd place.
Britain: Vettel has KERS issues late in the race.
Britain: Webber was given team-orders not to challenge Vettel, who had KERS issues.
Britain: Vettel was challenged by Webber, who ignored the team orders not to.
Hungary: Webber had no KERS in Q2, which returned in Q3.
Italy: Webber had KERS issues in qualifying.
Singapore: Webber had no DRS during the race, which he believed dropped him from 2nd to 3rd.
Abu Dhabi: Vettel has a tire puncture in turn 1.
Brazil: Vettel has gearbox issues, which drops him from the lead, to finish 2nd.

2011 score card
Sebastian Vettel: 7 issues (5 mechanical issues, 1 significant pit stop issue, 1 team-mate clash), 1 leading to a DNF
Mark Webber: 9 issues (7 mechanical issues, 1 significant pit stop issue, 1 team order), none leading to a DNF

2012
Australia: Both Vettel and Webber had KERS issues in qualifying.
Malaysia: Vettel's radio stopped working shortly after the restart.
Bahrain: Webber had no KERS for the first lap.
Spain: Both Vettel and Webber had to have their front wing changed during the race.
Europe: Webber had DRS issues in qualifying, which left him at the back of the starting grid.
Europe: Vettel retires from the lead due to an alternator failure.
Germany: Webber had to change his gearbox, leading to a 5-place grid penalty.
Hungary: Webber had an issue with his differential.
Italy: Vettel retires with an alternator failure.
India: Webber's KERS issue dropped him from 2nd to 3rd.
Abu Dhabi: Vettel's fuel pump issues in qualifying sent him to the back of the starting grid.
United States: Webber retires with an alternator failure.
Brazil: Vettel's start is affected after Webber ignored instructions not to challenge him.
Brazil: Webber is issued a team order to let Vettel pass.
Brazil: Vettel's radio stops working, leading to pit stop issues.

2012 score card
Sebastian Vettel: 8 issues (7 mechanical issues, 1 team-mate clash), 2 leading to a DNF
Mark Webber: 9 issues (8 mechanical issues, 1 team orders), 1 leading to a DNF

2013
Australia: Webber has ECU issues for the first part of the race.
Australia: Webber returns in traffic after the front jack failed in the pit stop.
Malaysia: Vettel is given a team order not to challenge Webber half-way through the race.
Malaysia: Vettel is given a team order not to overtake Webber after the final pit stops.
Malaysia: Webber loses the lead after Vettel ignores a team order.
China: Webber lost fuel pressure in Q2.
China: Webber's wheel comes off during the race.
Britain: Vettel retires from the lead with gearbox issues.
Germany: Webber's first pit stop goes disastrous, which puts him back at the end of the field.
Germany: Vettel has KERS issues during the race.
Hungary: Webber has KERS issues during qualifying.
Hungary: Vettel has overheating and KERS issues during the race.

2013 half-season score card
Sebastian Vettel: 5 issues (3 mechanical issues, 2 team orders), 1 leading to a DNF
Mark Webber: 7 issues (4 mechanical issues, 2 significant pit stop issues, 1 team-mate clash), 1 leading to a DNF

4.5 year score card
Sebastian Vettel: 31 issues (25 mechanical issues, 3 team order, 2 team-mate clashes, 1 significant pit stop issue), 7 leading to a DNF
Mark Webber: 32 issues (23 mechanical issues, 3 team orders, 2 team-mate clashes, 4 significant pit stop issues), 3 leading to a DNF

[Hammer278]

Lol awesome statistics bro

[spankyham]

I believe we only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to team orders. Given that we hear only a very small percentage of the chatter over the team radios and that most team orders are disguised, I don't believe we can make assumptions on team orders. Fair enough to talk about the obvious team orders that come to light.

[mnmracer]

I believe we only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to team orders. Given that we hear only a very small percentage of the chatter over the team radios and that most team orders are disguised, I don't believe we can make assumptions on team orders. Fair enough to talk about the obvious team orders that come to light.

Yeah, it would become very speculative, and very much prone to personal bias. I mean, we've seen Vettel has gotten obvious team orders as well, yet ask 'the public' and they'll have you believe such a thing never happens. And what constitutes a team order? Both drivers have been favored in pit stop strategies, so that won't go anywhere. Plus, the number of times that both drivers have actually been within team order range, is actually not that high.

TLDR; yeah, speculating about team orders won't go anywhere.

[Nin-Chin]

Webber also had gearbox synchronization problems during Hungary Quali too,leading to slow gear shifts estimated by Christian Horner to cost him 0.8 per lap.So I think the total for Webber is 33.Also Vettels issue at Monza 2010 wasn't engine it was brakes,blinding due to hitting a curb too hard.

[geetface9]

Turkey: Webber loses the lead after Vettel colides with him.

Thank you

[andrew]

So this proves that it is not always Webber that suffers with equipment failure, as claimed by some. Vettel's had his fair share of reliability issues.

[mnmracer]

Did I just please a Vettel and a Webber fan in one go?
Wow, I feel dirty...

[bud]

So this proves that it is not always Webber that suffers with equipment failure, as claimed by some. Vettel's had his fair share of reliability issues.

I've never understood those claims, you hear it a lot in this country of course.
Vettel has had many a mech failure especially whilst leading.

[What's Burning?]

Vettel has had many a mech failure especially whilst leading.

When you spend the amount of time he has in the lead, he's going to have more of those failures while leading.

[geetface9]

So this proves that it is not always Webber that suffers with equipment failure, as claimed by some. Vettel's had his fair share of reliability issues.

I've never understood those claims, you hear it a lot in this country of course.
Vettel has had many a mech failure especially whilst leading.

A lot of it probably comes from the fact that webber's KERS kept consistently failing (pretty much back to back to back and so on) for the first 9-10 races of the 2011 season, whereas vettel's only failed a couple of times in the first half of the season. On the surface it has historically seemed that webber has had more mechanical issues, although mnmracer has clearly showed that is not the case

[sagi58]

...On the surface it has historically seemed that webber has had more mechanical issues, although mnmracer has clearly showed that is not the case

That's probably because our perspective is jaundiced by what we hear/read!

[andrew]

So this proves that it is not always Webber that suffers with equipment failure, as claimed by some. Vettel's had his fair share of reliability issues.

I've never understood those claims, you hear it a lot in this country of course.
Vettel has had many a mech failure especially whilst leading.

A lot of it probably comes from the fact that webber's KERS kept consistently failing (pretty much back to back to back and so on) for the first 9-10 races of the 2011 season, whereas vettel's only failed a couple of times in the first half of the season. On the surface it has historically seemed that webber has had more mechanical issues, although mnmracer has clearly showed that is not the case

Given the known problems with Red Bull's KERS cooling, I can't help but wonder if Webber's KERS issues are more to do with him rarely running in clean air thus not getting as much cooling as Vettel's KERS unit. Just a theory.