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Webber opens up on Vettel relationship

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Mark Webber says his relationship with Sebastian Vettel is much better now they are no longer team-mates in Formula One.

Having been paired together at Red Bull for a number of years, Webber was often unhappy with what he saw as preferential treatment for Vettel, with the two even colliding on track during a difficult spell as team-mates. Webber left F1 at the end of 2013 - the same season Vettel ignored team orders and overtook his team-mate to take victory in Malaysia - but now racing in the World Endurance Championship he says the two are on much better terms.

“We actually flew from Melbourne to Dubai after the Melbourne Grand Prix and were pretty much sitting together and had a good chat,” Webber told Dubai radio while promoting the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “Time’s a great healer. When you are in there going for it and want the same territory it’s very hard to come up for air, and every season rolls into one.

“Now I think time’s moved on and we’ll see. We were at odds at the end of the day, but I suppose we’re not at odds when we’ve got our helmets off.”

And Webber says although the incident in Malaysia was the breaking point of the tough relationship between the two, it has something they have been able to move on from in the time since.

“Vettel and I were teammates for quite a few years and Sebastian’s trophy cabinet at the end of that was quite a bit different to mine, he did quite well out of that, but yes we had a very successful period at Red Bull Racing as a team winning quite a few team and drivers’ championships in Seb’s case.

“With that comes some tension to the friendship I suppose on the professional front and obviously that might creep into the personal stuff as well. Malaysia 2013 was the icing on the cake in what was a difficult relationship for four years. Now, it’s different when not competing, we’re not inside the boxing ring anymore.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.