Red Bull Racing Motorsport Director Dr Helmut Marko was this morning quoted by the team’s in-house publication in a vicious verbal broadside against his own driver Mark Webber.
According to The Red Bulletin, Marko alleged that Webber ‘has on average two races per year where he is unbeatable, but he can’t maintain this form throughout the year…as soon as the his prospects start to look good in the world championship, he has a little trouble with the pressure that this creates’.
The Red Bull supremo then went on to question the Australian’s ability to cope with that pressure. ‘If some technical mishap occurs…he falls relatively easily into a downward spiral,’ argued Marko.
In perhaps the most stinging aspect of the interview, Marko compared Webber unfavourably with newly-crowned three time world champion Sebastian Vettel. ‘In comparison with Seb’s rising form, it seems to me that Mark’s form somehow flattens out…Red Bull puts him [Webber] in a car – a possible winner – and suddenly along comes this young kid and he snatches the booty from under Mark’s nose,’ said the Austrian.
Marko’s praise for Vettel, on the other hand, was nothing less than unstinting. ‘Seb’s driving was flawless…phenomenal…he can still call on reserves that other drivers might not have,’ stated Marko, who is believed to have the ear of Red Bull top man Dietrich Mateschitz.
Although Marko’s support for Webber has never been entirely fulsome, the latest attack, coming just weeks before the beginning of the 2013 season, will be seen as particularly oddly-timed.
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