Webber: No frictionposted in F118 | 12 | 2010
AUSSIE MARK Webber is adamant, as he heads into the 2011 F1 season, that there will be no friction between him and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
The duo, who famously collided during the Turkish Grand Prix and endured difficult times during their battle for the championship, have settled their differences and are ready to battle again fairly for the 2011 title.
"I think it is inevitable when you have two team-mates pushing each other as hard as we were, and also people have to understand that it only happens once every 10 to 15 years where you have two drivers in one team going for a championship because quite often you have rivals going for a title, but to have them in the same team and under the same roof is unusual," he said.
"It also happened to be the first time Red Bull had been through it, so all of us learned a huge amount. There were some growing pains, of course, and being two competitive individuals as we are, both wanting the same thing, it is going to be strained at times.
"Our relationship is good now, at the end of the season it was good to have a chat about things and push a few things away that happened. It's hard to talk closely to each other during the season in the heat of the battle and over the winter we will have more time to build for the season and do a better job without any friction."
And Webber, who won four grands prix this year and finished second behind his team-mate in the standings despite leading the championship for a significant part of the season, has no doubts Red Bull will continue to treat its drivers equally in order to have a stronger championship.
"I've got number two on my car but Seb scored 51%of the team points and I scored 49% so it was a pretty tight battle," he said. "If your performance is such that you are not consistently able to challenge at the front and fight for victory, then inevitably your role will change. But if you are in with a shout, that will not happen in terms of team orders; it has been equal in the past and will be equal in the future.
"We need to get the constructors' championship and to do that we need to put both feet forward; it is as hard to have a one-car team as two-car teams. The team knows putting energy into two cars is beneficial to everybody. I think that is the best way."
But Webber remains adamant he has a world championship in him and will be striving to beat Vettel to the title next year.
"The bar is high from his year," he continued. "I need to improve if I can on that result, but the goal is more victories and to win as many races as I can. I want to turn up and compete hard and compete well.
"That is my goal and to make sure I leave no stone unturned. This year I didn't leave much change on the table. I tried my hardest and in my own opinion I could not have done much better in terms of my own effort so I need to do that again."
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Jim McGill
Photo: Getty Images