Mark Webber is adamant that he will be able to settle his differences with the Red Bull management – as tensions inside the team overshadowed the Australian’s third win of the season.
The 33-year-old took advantage of his team-mate’s early puncture to romp home to victory, holding off the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.
However, even after crossing the line, it was still clear to see that Webber was still angry about his team’s decision to remove a newly-designed front wing from his car and fit it on to his team-mate’s RB6.
Meanwhile, following his early puncture, Sebastian Vettel benefited from the safety car period to recover to seventh – passing a gaggle of competitors along the way.
Mark Webber – 1st: “It’s great to win here in Silverstone; it’s got such a lot of history and to win big races like this one and Monaco is so rewarding. The start was ideal, when I got to the first corner I was ahead and thought, ‘let’s get on with it’. It was a special day and a lot of hard work has gone in from the team – you don’t get results at this level if you’re not putting the effort in. They deserve this today. Yesterday was a unique situation, but I’m confident we can sort everything for the future. Going forward, I will do the best I can. It was an incredible day today and I’m looking forward to enjoying myself this evening.”
Sebastian Vettel – 7th: “I had a bad start, we went too aggressive with the clutch and I had quite a lot of wheel-spin. Then I had the puncture, I didn’t feel anything, so I wasn’t sure what happened. After the first turn, something was strange and I saw the rear-right puncture. Unfortunately after I got it, I got a bit of damage to the car which lost me some performance, but I was able to recover and score some points, which was important. For the first thirty laps, I didn’t have much to do except going around trying to catch up, but after the safety car I had some people to fight and that was good fun, I was racing people like Felipe and Michael it’s great as whenever you try something and you see a gap you know that they are smart enough to see it, so it was good fun for the last twenty laps. It’s always a good race here with a great atmosphere.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “It’s fantastic to win in front of all the team members today. Mark drove an excellent race, he made a very good start and the team was fantastic in the pit stops it was a flawless performance from him. Sebastian was unlucky at the first corner, I’m not sure if contact was made with Hamilton at the start, but thereafter he made an excellent recovery drive to score some important points for the team. It was unlucky to have got the puncture, but it was a good recovery thereafter. The most important thing today is winning this race in front of all the people that work so hard to make the team what it is.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “A superb victory from Mark from an eventful race which included a lot of action and close racing. Sebastian suffered from this in the first corner, but made a very strong recovery to move from last to seventh; it was a huge drive from him today. It was a good result for our engines, as this is a hard track for them here in Silverstone. We came hoping for a one-two, we got a victory and we have to be happy with that. We gained one point over McLaren; we still have a gap to make up but we won’t give up.”
