• Turkish Grand Prix

Red Bull's Marko turns on Webber after accident

ESPNF1 Staff
May 30, 2010 « Webber blames Vettel for collision | »
Sebastian Vettel makes his views clear at Istanbul Park © Getty Images
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Red Bull's advisor Helmut Marko has backed Sebastian Vettel after a crash with team-mate Mark Webber in the Turkish Grand Prix cost the team a potential 1-2 finish.

Webber said Vettel had turned into him during the overtaking manoeuvre, but team advisor Helmut Marko pointed a clear finger of blame at the Australian and his race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam.

"Webber was slower and Vettel had immense pressure from Hamilton," Marko said on German television RTL. "Unfortunately, Mark was not told about the situation accurately by his race engineer."

"He [Webber] had radioed the pits to say he was slower on the straights. He knew the situation and had just been informed about the pressure Hamilton was putting on [Vettel]. Vettel was so much faster that he had to pass. If Webber and he had braked together, then Hamilton would have passed Vettel."

Christian Horner was more balanced and told the BBC: "From a team perspective I'm really disappointed because the team had done everything right. We'd outstrategied the McLarens, who were strong today …. to see both cars touch each other was really disappointing.

"I've spoken to Sebastian, he got a run and they should never had been where they were. It's really disappointing for the team. It's cost them a lot of points. The priority is to beat the other teams and today we handed 43 points on a plate to McLaren. The team really deserved to win this race. We need to sit down, go through it and come back stronger at the next event."

Horner had said that while he had no issues with his drivers taking each other on, the onus was for them to do so sensibly and not to do anything which put either of them at risk. "What we always ask is that the drivers give each other room," he said. "Today neither yielded, and the result was the team losing a lot of points, Mark losing a lots of points and Sebastian losing a lot of points … the net result is everybody loses."

Referring to the nip-and-tuck battle between the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button a few laps later, Horner said that "they raced each other and they gave each other space, and that's what we ask".

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