MOTORSPORT: It's far from disaster for Webber

Amid the storm Webber now outright F1 leader
Mark Webber has called the collision with his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel in the Turkish Grand Prix a disaster and media reports have taken that line too, but it's far from disaster for Australia's Formula One star.

Sure Webber came away from Istanbul without a third straight GP victory, and 10 points less than he wanted -- 15 instead of 25.

But he now leads the world championship outright, with five points more than reigning world champion Jenson Button and nine more than 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton, with a dozen races to go -- the next of them in Montreal, Canada, in a fortnight.

Turkey would have been much more of a disaster for Webber had he not got any points, or if Vettel -- still perhaps his main rival for the title -- had won and collected 25 and Webber not finished and got none.

Instead it was Vettel who ended up with no points from Turkey after spinning into retirement with a punctured right rear tyre and dropping from equal championship leader to fifth.

What has come to light in the hours since the race is that Webber had just turned down his Renault engine's power to start conserving fuel, which explains how Vettel got alongside him with such apparent ease.

The weight of opinion has been massively in Webber's favour, although it is starting to even up now and Red Bull's main motorsport man, Dr Helmut Marko, certainly believes Vettel was in the right, while team principal looks to have sided with Webber -- although perhaps only initially.

Brilliant passing manouevres as Hamilton fifth winner
We'll come back to that incident in a moment, but firstly a bigger picture of the world events in motorsport over the weekend.

Hamilton won in Turkey from Button. It was Hamilton's first win of the year but the third for McLaren, and it has now taken the lead in the constructors' championship from Red Bull Racing -- by one point.

Red Bull would have been 43 points clear had its drivers finished one-two, as they seemed set to do.

Instead it was the second quinella of the year for McLaren and Hamilton became the fifth winner from seven GPs.

It's a fabulous season of F1 and there were two passes in Turkey -- by Button on Hamilton, and then the reverse a few corners later -- that rank in the top three in the past decade, surpassed only by Fernando Alonso overtaking Michael Schumacher at Suzuka in the mid-noughties. And not quite in the class of Mika Hakkinen overtaking Schumacher at Spa in Belgium with Ricardo Zonta between them a decade ago -- perhaps the most magic of all F1 on-track moments.

Schumacher was fourth in Turkey last night, ahead of his much younger Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, but Red Bull and McLaren are in a different league to Mercedes and Ferrari.

At its 800th GP Ferrari saw its red cars finish only seventh and eighth, with Felipe Massa ahead of Ferando Alonso, who had started back in 12th.

Max Mosley, who headed the world governing body of motorsport -- the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile -- until the end of last year made a stinging attack on Ferrari over the weekend, see here.

In the US this morning, Scotsman Dario Franchitti won his second Indianapolis 500 from another previous winner and fellow Brit, Dan Wheldon, with Marco Andretti the best of the few Americans in the classic -- third after another Brit, Alex Lloyd, was relegated a place for passing Andretti under the yellow flags that came out at the end as yet another Brit, Mike Conway, had a huge crash in which his car flipped and broke up badly, although he escaped with possibly only a minor leg injury.

Brisbane-born New Zealander Scott Dixon, Franchitti's Ganassi teammate, finished fifth and Danica Patrick sixth -- a commendable effort in a car that was a handful throughout the whole -- albeit shortened -- "month of May".

There was disappointment for the Aussies in the Indy 500 -- Will Power the best of them in eighth, although he still leads Franchitti in the championship, while Ryan Briscoe crashed at three-quarter distance. Their Penske Racing teammate, and three-time winner, Helio Castroneves finished ninth.

Despite Americans comprising barely a quarter of the field now the crowd was still massive and the spectacle absolutely fabulous.

In the world rally championship round in Portugal 26-year-old Frenchman scored his first WRC victory, withstanding a final day attack from his six-time world champion countryman  Sebastien Loeb as Citroens filled the podium places.

Kurt Busch, driving a Dodge, won NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, North Carolina, just hours after the Indy 500, from Jamie McMurray in a Chevrolet and Kyle Busch in a Toyota, with Australia's Marcos Ambrose 36th and 25 laps down at the finish.

There have been reports in the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun-Herald newspapers over the weekend that a damning report is imminent from the NSW auditor-general on last December's inaugural Sydney 500 V8 Supercar event, with the costs set to be higher than projected and the benefits smaller -- a familiar theme from street races.

Webber's side of the Turkish controversy
Back to the Turkish GP and the Webber-Vettel incident. Here are a series of questions to Webber and answers from him in the official post-race press conference.

Q: Mark, lap 41. What happened?
MW: Seb had big top speed advantage and went down the inside and we went side-by-side and then it looked like he turned pretty quick right and we made contact. It happened very fast. It is definitely a shame for the team. Not an ideal day, but the McLarens were solid today. It was a good race between all four of us up until then and obviously neither of us wanted to make contact with each other but it can happen sometimes. Unfortunately when we are both at the front it is never ideal but it happened.

Q: Is it hard to take for you given it was your teammate who you think was responsible and cost you the win today?
MW: There was a long way to go in the race, so it wasn't a guaranteed victory. I have still got a few points. But it was an interesting few metres on the track between the both of us and in the end it was not the result either of us would have wanted.

Q: Confident that the victory would have been yours given that you had kept the McLarens at bay for 40 of the laps and Sebastian behind you as well?
MW: Yeah. Yeah, I was, yes.

Later in the conference Webber said: Seb had a big top speed run on me on one of the laps. He was down the inside and we were going straight for turn 12. Then he came right pretty fast. We made contact. Not good for the team at all, but this happens. Over 19 races when you have got two guys fighting, it is always on the edge. Disappointing for us as a team. Obviously lost some points with the one car but I was happy I could continue, to be honest, and get some points.

Q: Is there any reason why he had a jump on you on that particular lap?
MW: Hmm. Maybe.

Q: Did you come out of the previous corner a bit slower on that lap?
MW: Hmm. You guys need to dig more, somewhere else.

Q: What do you think the reaction's going to be back with the team?
MW: Oh, disappointment of course. We don't come here to have contact with each other but it happened today and I felt reasonably comfortable with my side of things, I did my best today.

Later again in the press conference media pressed Webber about the incident, until he finally stated that "it was a f*ing disaster".

A transcript of the full press conference is here.

Vettel's side of the story
Despite some indications from the pitlane in the late stages of the race that Vettel had come to feel he had made a mistake, the German was publicly emphatic that he did nothing wrong.

"It is pretty obvious if you watch the scene," Vettel said. "We are here to race. I was on the inner side, would have had the go for the next corner.

"I was concentrating on braking, then I felt a hit and the race was over. I lost control over the car.

"I was not over-eager. I felt I was a little bit faster. Very silly among teammates. As a teammate you should give each other some room."

"Sebastian got a run on the inside of Mark, but then came across too early," Horner said.

However, Marko said: "Sebastian was ahead already, and there was a corner coming, so he has to go on his line.

"Vettel was under enormous pressure from Hamilton. He had to do something, otherwise Hamilton would overtake.

"If such a situation comes up you have to look after the team. It still could have been one-two.

"He was already ahead -- at least 2 metres. The whole situation was unnecessary. We will talk with everybody quite clearly to make it not happen again.

"He had to go for the line -- he can't brake on the dirt, because if he would do that, for sure he knows what happens.

"Unnecessary, the whole situation. We'll talk with everybody and clearly make it not happen again.

"We were not in a situation where we were racing each other; we were under enormous pressure from the McLarens. The McLarens here were much faster on the straights, so we had to gain our advantage in the corners.

"Sebastian had to attack, otherwise he would have been overtaken by Hamilton. It would have been completely different if the McLarens would have been 10 seconds behind, but that wasn't the case.

"Obviously there was not the right communication going on."

Despite the differing views and saying that Mateschitz agreed with his take on the incident, Marko was at pains to deny a rift was developing in the Red Bull camp among its German speakers and the Anglo-Saxon contingent.

Horner said: "This will be dealt with before we go to Canada.

"I've now spoken to both drivers. They are both grown-ups, they are both big boys, they are both competitors, and the most important thing is that we have given away a load of points today and it must not happen again.

"They must learn from it. Mark had changed down into a fuel saving mode that cost him a little bit of performance on the straights, which also explains how Sebastian got a very clear run on him.

"It is right to let the drivers race -- we saw McLaren today letting their drivers race --  but when drivers are in the same team it is important that they give each other a bit more respect and concede if one has got a run on the other."

Which may just have been the team principal coming around to a view that Webber was the one in the wrong.

"The frustrating thing is we have given away 28 points today and it should have been a one-two," Horner said. "Both drivers have also lost points. From a team point of view it doesn't matter which way around they are, but the priority is to finish one-two -- and that is exactly what we should have done today."

Colliding Red Bulls a thriller for Hamilton
The person who had the best view of the Red Bull drivers colliding was eventual victor Hamilton.

Understandably he felt only delight.

"It was great to watch -- it was like an action movie in HD or 3D," Hamilton said. "It was fantastic."

Formula One drivers' world championship standings after seven of 19 rounds -- Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 93 points, Jenson Button (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 88, Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 84, Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 79, Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 78, Robert Kubica (Poland, Renault) 67, Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 67, Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 66, Michael Schumacher (Germany, Mercedes) 34, Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 22, Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy, Force India-Mercedes) 10, Rubens Barrichello (Brazil, Williams-Cosworth) 7, Vitaly Petrov (Russia, Renault) 6, Jaime Alguersuari (Spain, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 3, Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1, Kamui Kobayashi (Japan, Sauber-Ferrari) 1, Nico Huelkenberg (Germany, Williams-Cosworth) 1.

F1 constructors' championship standings -- McLaren-Mercedes 172 points, RedBull -- Renault 171, Ferrari 146, Mercedes 100, Renault 73, Force India-Mercedes 32, Williams-Cosworth 8, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4, Sauber-Ferrari 1.

Jamie McMurray won NASCAR's Daytona 500 for Ganassi in February.

Dan Wheldon, the 2005 Indy 500 winner, was second at The Brickyard for the second straight year.

Alex Lloyd crossed the line third for Dale Coyne Racing in what looked like a British sweep of the podium positions, but Marco Andretti was later promoted to third for Lloyd having overtaken him under the caution flags on the last lap.

Penske's Helio Castroneves, seeking to become the first foreign driver to win four Indy 500s -- and equal the feats of Americans A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Senior and Rick Mears -- crucially stalled during a pit stop, dropping him to 16th.

Castroneves led late in the race as many drivers struggled on low fuel -- the commentators talked of how slow they were, yet they were still averaging more than 200mph (320km/h) a lap -- but, after a late stop for a dash of fuel, was eventually classified ninth.

The Penske Racing report, including the disappointment for Australians Power and Briscoe, is here while the full Indy 500 results are here.

IndyCar series driver standings after six rounds -- Will Power (Penske) 227 points, Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) 216, Scott Dixon 203, Helio Castroneves (Penske) 199, Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) 175, Justin Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold) 167, Ryan Briscoe (Penske) 155, Tony Kanaan (Andretti Autosport) 151, Dan Wheldon (Panther) 142, Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) 134, Alex Tagliani (FAZZT) 126, Danica Patrick (Andretti Autosport) 118.

Young Frenchman beats six-time rally champ countryman
World rallying's new star, 26-year-old Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, survived a final-day attack from superstar countryman Sebastien Loeb to score his first world championship round win in the Rally of Portugal.

Loeb went into the last day 21.1 seconds behind Ogier and won the remaining four gravel stages to go into the final Algarve Stadium stage less than 8 seconds behind.

Ogier beat his six-time world champion compatriot by 0.1 seconds on that 2km tarmac stage to claim his maiden win.

That made amends for the young Frenchman narrowly missing out on victory at the recent Rally New Zealand after spinning three corners from the finish.

Ogier jumped from fourth to second in the championship, with 88 points -- 38 fewer than Loeb, who said: "I tried all the rally to beat him but he was just too fast ... I have a new rival now."

Spaniard Dani Sordo made it an all-Citroen podium.

A steering fault cost Norwegian Citroen privateer and former world champion Petter Solberg third place.

Solberg hit a water barrier on the final stage, allowing Finn Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford Focus to finish fourth.

World rally championship driver standings -- Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen) 126 points, Sebastien Ogier (France, Citroen) 88, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Ford) 76, Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) 72, Petter Solberg (Norway, Citroen) 63, Daniel Sordo (Spain, Citroen) 49, Matthew Wilson (Great Britain, Ford) 38, Federico Villagra (Argentina, Ford) 26, Henning Solberg (Norway, Ford) 24, Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Citroen) 15.

WRC constructors' championship standings -- Citroen Total WRT 189 points, BP-Ford Abu-Dhabi WRT 163, Citroen Junior Team 106, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT  84, Munchi's Ford WRT 40.

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