Mark Webber has staged a dramatic climbdown in the continuing furore over the allocation of Red Bull’s new front wing.
Webber was initially furious that his undamaged wing had been taken off his car after free practice 3 at the British Grand Prix and given to his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who had broken his own.
After having won the race itself with the old wing, and with the paddock up in arms about Red Bull’s apparent favouritism of Vettel, Webber poured fuel on the fire by announcing the race win was “not bad for a number two driver”.
But with Red Bull struggling to contain the story and with the two sides of the garage reportedly at war with each other, Webber has moved to calm the situation.
“It’s a fair admission that I put too much out to the world,” he told the Daily Mail.
“I wear my heart on my sleeve and I try to be honest to myself and everyone, and I’m being honest with you.
“I don’t want any favouritism; just a fair deal. You need to make sure you don’t have any headwinds. You can’t afford anything that makes it a little bit harder for you,” he added.
“On Saturday I was obviously a bit hot under the collar with what was going on. It was a unique situation because it was the first time we had just one component. It was a tricky decision to make. I was pretty disappointed by it.”
Webber added that he had been assured by the team that because of his current championship superiority to Vettel, he would now be offered the part if the same situation arose.
“But the upshot is that it will go the other way in the future – it just will, even if that’s hard for people to believe. He was given the wing because he was higher in the championship than me. Now I am higher, so you can follow the logic.”
He also quelled the idea that the team was riven by infighting.
“The stories that the teams on the two sides of the garage aren’t getting on is total rubbish. You don’t need to have enemies in life. I just want a fair crack.”
