Q&A with Red Bull’s Helmut Marko: We are not amused 30 May 2010
As Red Bull’s motorsport consultant, Dr Helmut Marko is the perfect person to ask about the incident between the team’s drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber during the Turkish Grand Prix. Watching the duo go wheel-to-wheel and then lose an almost guaranteed one-two by ending up colliding was not the ideal end to the Istanbul Park weekend. And Marko and the rest of the team are keen to have a serious word with both drivers to ensure it never happens again…
Q: Helmut, how disappointed do you feel to have let victory slip from your grasp?
Helmut Marko: A sure-fire one-two to be exact! It leaves you speechless.
Q: Do you regret there are no team orders anymore?
HM: Well, we thought that we had two responsible drivers who wouldn’t get into such a situation in the first place.
Q: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he didn’t believe it was Vettel’s fault. Is this the official opinion of the team?
HM: Well, in the situation Sebastian was in, he had no other choice than to act the way he did.
Q: How will the team respond?
HM: We will carefully analyse the situation and sit down with all involved to have a serious word about what happened and how to handle situations like that in the future.
Q: Will you change something in the future to avoid such an incident happening again?
HM: Well, first of all we always told them that it is a strict no-go to go to the wall with each other. Whatever happens they always have to give room to the other. I hope that all the people involved will think a bit more in the future before acting.
Q: That suggests that one of the two should have given way to the other…
HM: Yes.
Q: And you will discuss with them who that should have been …
HM: Yes.
Q: Is it true that the team gave instructions to Mark Webber’s race engineer to let Sebastian Vettel pass because otherwise Lewis (Hamilton)would be able to overtake?
HM: That is not correct, because that would mean a team order. We informed Mark about the situation and it is for the driver to decide. The fact is that if Sebastian hadn’t passed he would have been overtaken by Hamilton.
Q: Why was Sebastian so much quicker than Mark so suddenly?
HM: I think it was in the tyres.
Q: Have you received a phone call from Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz?
HM: Yes. What does the Queen say? We are not amused? That’s what he said…that he was not amused!
Q: At the next race, if you have a one-two, how will you tell the drivers to behave?
HM: Montreal is a track that is probably not the best for our car, and if it is, we will surely make the right decisions.
