Webber fit and ready to take on McLaren challenge 09 Jul 2010
Red Bull’s Mark Webber says he is fit and well, and raring to go this weekend, less than 14 days after his horrendous back flip in the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix winner confirmed that there have been no ill effects. “I’m over it, let’s move on to Silverstone,” he said. “I had a bit of whiplash. I knew straight away that I’d hit my big toe pretty hard. But I didn’t even know I was upside down, to be honest. It happened so quickly. I was very mindful that I should let go of the wheel, but I wanted to keep my arms in the car.”
Speaking of the cause of the accident, he added: “It definitely takes two to have that accident. I’ve been in his (Heikki Kovalainen’s) situation, with Minardi, and I learned that if you fight the quick guys you always lose more time. But everyone’s entitled to have a fight. I thought that he was cooperating, then I realised that he was going to defend…”
Webber will race a replacement chassis this weekend, the one which Sebastian Vettel used to win with in Malaysia. The old one is already being repaired at the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes. “My number one mechanic, ‘Crunch,’ (Mark Lenton) left a note in it which read: ‘You gave me the best day of my life, and also saved my mate,’” Webber revealed.
The Australian also said that he believes it likely over the course of time that McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will have a similar incident to the one he had with Vettel in Turkey, simply because of the pressures of this high-stakes game.
“They’ve been working very hard with smoke and mirrors with Lewis and Jenson at McLaren,” he said. “They get on, but if they are always racing at the front it’s inevitable that something is going to happen, because of what’s at stake and because both are hungry drivers. Our whole team learned from the incident in Turkey. It was a new experience for us. But 80 percent of the grid would give their right arm to be in a similar position, with two guys fighting at the front. It’s unlikely to happen again.”
But he did not to discount it totally…
“Seb and I are pretty good,” he went on, describing the relationship with his team mate. “If he was drowning in the ocean I’d go in and save him. But it’s totally natural that there will be rivalry. If you are like Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen at Lotus there isn’t so much at stake right now, but look at Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, when they were at Williams in the Eighties. They were both at the front and were both trying to win, and there was healthy rivalry. It’s not possible in that situation to have a beautiful fuzzy relationship because the other guy is your competitor.”
Webber doesn’t discount Ferrari this weekend but believes that Red Bull’s strongest challenge will come from McLaren. “We know Jenson and Lewis will be there, that’s totally obvious. We know that. But it’ll be a top four at least, because Seb and I will be there too, for sure. I’d be very happy to win the British Grand Prix. It’s a prestigious event. I know the home crowd will be rooting for Lewis and Jenson, but I’ve always got on pretty well with the British fans. We have as good a chance as anyone of winning on Sunday afternoon.”
Meanwhile, it was confirmed last night that Sakon Yamamoto will race in Bruno Senna’s place this weekend for HRT.
