With an oil consumption problem slowing his RB6, Mark Webber became a virtual spectator in the closing laps of the German Grand Prix, so the Red Bull Racing F1 driver gives us Ferrari’s controversial team orders decision from his point of view.
‘As I left the Hockenheim paddock on Sunday evening, Ferrari were embroiled in a team orders row that looked set to run and run.
Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso swapped places in the middle of the German Grand Prix and the last I heard was that they'd been given a US$100,000 fine and the World Motorsport Council was going to take a look.
At the time of "the incident", I was half-watching the race on the big screens because my car had an oil consumption problem and I was reeling off the remaining laps.
It was quite frustrating because I saw on one screen that the Ferraris were close together and by the time I got to the next one, they'd already swapped places! I never got to see exactly what happened.
Had Felipe and Fernando been fighting for 12th place, this story wouldn't earn headlines. It's contentious because they were battling for the lead of the grand prix, so of course it's going to be spoken about.
I feel for Felipe. It must be incredibly difficult to give up a grand prix victory, but I don't want to get drawn into the rights and wrongs of the situation.
'I saw on one screen that the Ferraris were close together and when I got to the next one, they'd already swapped places! I never saw exactly what happened!'
I don't know what's in Felipe's contract and I don't know what was said in the stewards' room after the race. All I do know is that Fernando won the race.
Ferrari are now serious players in the World Championship. They had the fastest car in Germany and Fernando is just 13 points behind Sebastian Vettel and me in the World Championship and he's only 34 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton.
As for my race weekend, it was a bit frustrating. A mistake on my last run in qualifying meant I lined up fourth on the grid; which was the first time since the season-opener in Bahrain that I'd qualified off the front row.
That placed me on the dirty side of the grid, but I got surprisingly good traction away from the line and I was able to hold position through Turn One.
After looking at McLaren's incredible straight-line speed in qualifying, I was worried about the run to Turn Six on the opening lap. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were right behind me on the grid and my worries were justified: Lewis pulled alongside on the approach to the hairpin and was through.
My only pitstop came on lap 13, when I changed from the option to the prime tyre.
We expected Lewis to stop on the same lap, but he went one longer and that was enough to get him out ahead of me because I got caught in traffic. Jenson went much longer in the other McLaren, stopping on lap 22, and that was enough for him to get out ahead of me as well.
By the time all of the front-runners had made their stops, I was back in sixth.
At about half distance, the team told me about the oil consumption problem and from that moment onwards my only concern was getting to the end of the race. I look forward to getting back in the mix at the Hungaroring next weekend.’
Mark Webber writes for Australia’s Daily Telegraph. Keep up with Mark at Redbullracing.com or visit his personal website.
© Getty Images for Red Bull Racing
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