F1: Vettel kinks Kylie in Istanbul

[gary]

Reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel, had an off in wet grass during the Practice 1
session in Istanbul ahead of this weekends F1 race in Turkey.

Vettel came out unscathed, but his RB7 was left with its front end and wheel struts
twisted, kinked and battered. Red Bull mechanics will be busy repairing the car
ahead of today's final practice and qualifying session.

Story and pictures on F1 web site here -
http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2011/5/11997.html

Mark Webber managed to get some valuable testing with the Red Bull's troubled
KERS and Vettel reported they did not have an issue with it.

Istanbul was the scene of last year's collision between Webber and Vettel.

After Mark's amazing drive in China, starting from 18th on the grid and
finishing 3rd, teams are closely looking at tyre and pit stop strategies.

With Webber's contract with Red Bull due to expire at the end of this season,
rumours are increasing of whether Ferrari might offer Mark a drive in a red
car next year.

[MikeyB]

Alternatively, Mark wants to give the impression of a potential Ferrari offer and his old mate Fernando is happy to play along!

I believe the reality is that Red Bull need a set-up driver for their wunderkind Vettel, who isn't able to provide the level of engineering feedback that an experienced pro like Mark can. Even when the two drivers' relationship was at its lowest point last season, Mark unconcernedly mentioned in a pre-race interview with James Alan that, "They took the set-up off my car and put it on Seb's". (That's "took" meaning "copied", not "removed").

His car set-up technical skills make Mark invaluable to Red Bull and if he was replaced by a junior like Ricciardo, Vettel's performance would soon fall away. The team know it and Mark knows it too - hence, I think the present "rumours" are just tactics in an upcoming contract extension/pay increase negotiation.

With Vettel missing a big chunk of practice this weekend, his dependency on Mark is even greater than usual, but if his car holds together after Friday's bruising, I expect him to be lightning fast in the race - Mark's input will ensure Vettel still has the best possible set-up for the conditions.

[gary]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the insightful comments.

Indeed, I've noted the commentary in the press of late of how Webber's technical feedback
skills are highly respected and it surely would be a loss to the Red Bull team.

There was a big signal on Thursday that Mark wanted to stay on at Red Bull when
Reuter's reported him as saying there were three options -



Article here - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/uk-motor-racing-prix-webber-idUKTRE74450I20110505

He is a great driver and let's hope he has a fabulous drive this weekend. :thumbsup: