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No issues with Marko or Vettel - Webber

ESPNF1 Staff
June 11, 2010 « Vettel expects McLaren to shine in Montreal | »
Mark Webber faces the media in Montreal © Sutton Images
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Mark Webber insists he has cleared the air with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who appeared to favour Sebastian Vettel after the two team-mates clashed at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Red Bull has spent most of the past two weeks playing down accusations of favouritism or blame after the accident, and in Canada Webber and Vettel again pledged to move on. In the immediate aftermath, Marko - who has overseen much of Vettel's career in junior categories - said Webber did not leave his protégé enough space during the manoeuvre. However, Webber says his comments were based on a misunderstanding at the time.

"Helmut wasn't fully up to speed with all the facts at the time," Webber told reporters in Canada. "He went pretty quick with his comments, which he's learned from and will move on. I had a good chat with Helmut at the factory. He's fine. He brought Seb along, he speaks the language, so you can expect a bit of emotional support that way. But I'm fine with that. Helmut has been... there are a lot of things that have happened with this team through his support, and I've been off the back of that as well.

"It's been a great story for all of us, what's happened here. There are a lot of teams in the pitlane who would give their right arm to have what happened to us in Turkey. It was, as I said at the time, a bit of an f-up. You never want to touch anyone on the track, or have a potential retirement, let alone with your team-mate. It's not easy fighting with your team-mate for the lead of the race and the world championship - but that's what happened on the day.

He added that he and Vettel had agreed to disagree over the accident and were now focusing on this weekend's race.

"I'm cool, absolutely fine," Webber added. "I'm totally over it and ready to go this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting back on the track."

Vettel said that reports claiming he was favoured at the team were a fabrication of the media, which he was not happy about, but could do nothing about.

"Whatever you guys write, I cannot influence," he told reporters. "You all have your own opinion and it comes out in what you say. We do what we do and some things are nice to read, some things are not. If you keep cool and look at the situation I don't see that there is any reason to see that one guy in our team is preferred over the other.

"So far, there have been a lot of parts on my car breaking down so we were not the luckiest, but still we have managed to get a lot of points and are in a good position in the championship. It's something you have to learn to deal with, but in the end the best thing is to focus on what really matters."

Vettel added that he was still happy with everybody at the team.

"To cut a long story short, what happened happened," he said. "Obviously, it looks extremely stupid when it happens between team-mates. As I said, I've talked to him and we are both fine with the situation. If it happens again, then it looks very stupid."

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