Quote:
Originally Posted by gary
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.
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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.