Former F1 driver Mark Webber believes that F1 world championship leader Sebastian Vettel is not immune to pressure.
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According to Webber, high-profile errors from the German such as Azerbaijan 2017 were prime examples. In that race, he deliberately drove into Lewis Hamilton’s car during a Safety Car period.
Webber and Vettel were team mates at Red Bull from 2009 until Webber’s retirement at the end of 2013.
Webber said, “Sebastian has had those and does have those. I think he has a plan and often these meltdowns are outside our normal routine of a grand prix. So: Safety Cars.”
“Abu Dhabi [in 2012] he’s been off behind the Safety Car, hitting DRS boards,” Webber added. “We saw Azerbaijan.
“So it’s amazing how he has this maximum intense focus and concentration that he can do. Winning off pole off the front, breaking the DRS, that was his signature punch. He was deadly with that. But as soon as there was another complication that became a little more tricky…”
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Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel
Vettel committed another mistake when he collided with Webber during a Safety Car period in the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix. Webber, who was running in second place for Red Bull at the time, was hit from behind. At the time, the two weren’t teammates as Vettel was with Toro Rosso.
“There was podium for sure, which was unheard of,” Webber recalled. “Red Bull and a Toro Rosso on the podium together, this was like, never been done before.”
“I pulled up beside Lewis in the last sector saying, mate, the gap to the Safety Car’s ginormous. I was looking at him saying come on, the lights are still on, it’s not like we’re doing a restart, we’re still under Safety Car and he was pulling a long way back and mucking around so I pulled up beside him.
“The next minute, boom. Behind the Safety Car [Vettel] just absolutely harpooned the back of me, Sebastian and I went out. I know Seb was bawling his eyes out after that, he was shattered.”
“Lewis was really at fault to a degree,” added Webber. “He was yo-yoing around. I think McLaren had some different brake material.”
Vettel also found it harder to perform at his best in qualifying when the team could not judge whether the tyres would produce their best on the first or second lap.
