MOTORSPORT: Webber back in contention

Monday motorsport report

July 12, 2010

Aussie only three-time winner - and demands recognition
Mark Webber is the first driver to win three Formula One races this year, is right back in world title contention after his British Grand Prix victory – and wants better treatment from his Red Bull team.

Webber was furious that the latest front wing was taken off his car on Saturday to replace the similar one damaged on teammate Sebastian Vettel’s car in the latest evidence that the young German is Red Bull’s preferred driver. But in the race Webber drove as faultlessly as did in winning at Barcelona and Monaco earlier in the season while Vettel lost any chance of victory within a few hundred metres of the start.

Although Vettel had the pole position Webber made a better start from alongside him and withstood the German’s attempted intimidation to get through the first corner first.

Vettel’s right rear tyre rubbed Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren-Mercedes, puncturing it, and was promptly off the road, losing places and, in last place, had to pit for new rubber at the end of the first lap. Only a mid-race safety car that bunched up the field enabled Vettel to claw his way back to seventh place as Webber sailed to victory ahead of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes.

Webber moved back up to third in the championship, behind only Hamilton and his McLaren teammate Jenson Button, while Vettel dropped to fourth.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is almost out of title contention after he and Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa collided on the opening lap, leaving both with punctures, and later Spaniard Alonso copped a drive-through penalty for cutting a corner while overtaking the Renault of Poland’s Robert Kubica.

Webber – who pointedly said “Not bad for a No 2 driver!” to his team over the radio after the chequered flag – will now be seeking assurances from Red Bull that it will give him its utmost support, even preference when and where required, with him again its leading prospect in the title race.

“I should do [get that preference],” Webber said after his British victory.

“It was a unique situation yesterday [Saturday] - the first time the team had only one component for each of us, but I’d never have signed a contract for 2011 if I had known it would be that way. Let’s see how it goes in the future, but I just keep doing what I do and hopefully it’s enough.

“This is very special for me to win here as I’ve won at Silverstone in Formula Ford and Formula 3000. Sir Jack Brabham won here in 1960 and there’s been a lot of amazing GPs won here, so it’s very, very special to win here in the UK [his and Red Bull Racing’s base].”

Webber is probably going to need to win at least four or five of the remaining GPs and pick up a swag of points in the other races to overhaul Hamilton’s 17-point championship lead.

Hamilton’s second place at Silverstone and Button’s fourth were fantastic results for McLaren-Mercedes after its cars were way off the pace for much of the weekend. Button started only 14th on the grid – and Hamilton fourth, yet they banked valuable points that kept McLaren 29 points ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

Formula One drivers’ world championship after 10 of 19 rounds:

Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 145 points
Jenson Button (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 133
Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 128
Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 121
Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 98
Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 90
Robert Kubica (Poland, Renault) 83
Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 67
Michael Schumacher (Germany, Mercedes) 36
Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 35
Rubens Barrichello (Brazil, Williams-Cosworth) 29
Kamui Kobayashi (Japan, Sauber-Ferrari) 15
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy, Force India-Mercedes) 12
Sebastien Buemi (Switzeraldn, Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 7
Vitaly Petrov (Russia, Renault) 6
Jaimie Alguersuari (Spain) Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 3
Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Williams-Cosworth) 2

F1 constructors’ championship: McLaren 278 points, Red Bull Racing-Renault 249, Ferrari 165, Mercedes 126, Renault 89, Force India-Mercedes 47, Williams-Cosworth 31, Sauber-Ferrari 15, Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10.

FPR and Winterbottom mount V8 Supercar challenge
One win each for Holden and Ford, by Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbotton respectively, in the weekend’s Townsville round of the V8 Supercar Championship – as it was at the previous round in Darwin.

The scoreline is now 10-6 in Holden’s favour – although Fords have won six of the past eight races - as the series takes a nine-week break.

James Courtney, who won four races in a row in his Falcon at Queensland Raceway and Winton for Dick Johnson/Jim Beam Racing on soft tyres, has stretched his lead over Team Vodafone Commodore star Whincup to 120 points – although Whincup and his team boss Roland Dane were furious that Courtney was not penalised for turning around teammate Steven Johnson in the first Townsville race.

But the form driver of the series is now Ford Performance Racing/Orrcon Steel’s Winterbottom. In the four races at Darwin and Townsville the man known as ‘Frosty’ has finished first, second, third and first.

He’s also back up to third in the championship, although more than 200 points adrift of Whincup and more than 300 behind Courtney.

Further evidence of FPR’s improved performance was the ninth and fifth places by Steven Richards on the weekend of his 38th birthday, while Paul Dumbrell was tenth and fourth in another FPR-built Falcon.

The Holden factory team’s Garth Tander was on the podium in both races – second on Saturday and third on Sunday – while Will Davison was back at the pointy end of the field Sunday with sixth place, a confidence booster with the endurance races looming.

Veteran Russell Ingall, who stormed from 27th on the grid on Saturday to a stunning sixth place, had been critical of racing ‘show’ in the News Ltd press before the Townsville races, stating that there were “some massive issues” and that the sport’s TV ratings “haven’t been great this year”.

The TV figures were not flattering again this weekend. Off around 30 per cent on 2009’s first running of the FNQ event.

V8 Supercar Championship standings after 16 races:
James Courtney (Ford) 1947 points,  Jamie Whincup (Holden) 1827, Mark Winterbottom (F) 1623, Shane Van Gisbergen (F) 1598, Garth Tander (H) 1509, Craig Lowndes (H) 1479, Lee Holdsworth (H) 1398, Rick Kelly (H) 1352, Michael Caruso (H) 1259, Steven Johnson (F) 1151, Paul Dumbrell (F) 1131, Jason Richards (H) 1098.

V8 Supercar team championship standings:
Team Vodafone 3306 points, Jim Beam Racing 3108, Fujitsu Racing/GRM 2672, Toll Holden Racing Team 2454, Ford Performance Racing (Orrcon Steel and Dunlop Super Dealer teams) 2433, Stone Brothers (Irwin Racing and SP Tools Racing) 2346, Jack Daniel’s Racing 2232, Team BOC and Trading Post Racing 1953, Supercheap Auto and Castrol Edge Racing 1584, Rock Racing and Kelly Racing 1131.

Ford’s Finnish factory drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala were relegated to fifth and sixth. Ex F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen was 11th after a crash on the first day.

Loeb is now 51 points ahead in the drivers’ championship while Citroen WRT has a 26-point lead over the BP-Ford team in the manufacturers’ championship.

Norwegian Solberg’s podium in Bulgaria was his sixth since forming his own team and came with a new co-driver, Chris Patterson.
Rally Finland is next.

World Rally Championship driver standings:
Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen) 151 points, Sebastien Ogier (France, Citroen) 100, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Ford) 86, Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) 80, Petter Solberg (Norway, Citroen) 78, Daniel Sordo (Spain, Citroen) 67.

WRC constructors’ standings:
Citroen Total WRT  232 points, BP-Ford Abu-Dhabi WRT  185, Citroen Junior Team 125, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT  98, Munchi's Ford WRT 40.

Reutimann overtook Jeff Gordon for the lead with 54 laps remaining, and then after reclaiming the top spot following a late-race round of green-flag pit stops held off Carl Edwards in the closing laps. Gordon, making his 500th Cup start, finished third after leading 47 laps late in the race and cut series leader Kevin Harvick’s advantage from 212 points to 103.

Jimmie Johnson, champion the past four years, led the first 92 laps missed the entrance to pit road, lost the lead and spent the rest of the race playing catch-up.

Reutimann is now 15th in the points, just 96 points Clint Bowyer – who is 12th and in line to make The Chase – the mini-series for the top dozen drivers to decide the title over the final 10 rounds - after Dale Earnhardt Junior’ 24th place finish.

Earnhardt is now 15 points behind Bowyer, with Mark Martin 14th and 37 points out of the Chase.