Flavio Briatore: “Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel must be separated”

Is this one blow too many that will finish off Mark Webber at Red Bull, already announced on departure even before the start of the season ? Three days later, the episode of the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Sebastian Vettel overtook his teammate to win without respecting the instructions of his team, still causing so much ink to flow. According to several sources, he even finished convincing the Australian to leave the Austrian team, or even the Formula 1 at the end of the season.

The German newspaper Bild also bluntly stated on Wednesday March 27 that Mark Webber will not have a new contract in 2014 at Red Bull. Words that echo those of Flavio Briatore, the former boss of Benetton and Renault, who was also the Australian's manager for many years. Asked by RAI radio to know if the Malaysian incident would definitively mark the end of the Webber-Vettel tandem at Red Bull, the Italian replied in the affirmative: " That's for sure ! ". “Their car is very competitive so the drivers want to stay there, but the Malaysian Grand Prix was proof that no one is in charge at Red Bull. Vettel is the boss. You can’t have a team manager who is also driving.” An opinion shared by Jenson Button, who is today the most experienced driver in the discipline. “Even if they sit down and talk, it won't change the problem. What happened will always be in their minds, and will not go away,” said the pilot McLaren.

While Mark Webber went home to Australia for a week to surf and clear his head, Sebastian Vettel went to Milton Keynes, to the Red Bull factory, to train on a simulator. Which sparked rumors that the Australian could leave Formula 1 and Red Bull immediately. A rumor swept away Tuesday by his father Alan, who assured that his son will be on war footing in China, for the next Grand Prix. As well as by Dietrich Mateschitz, the big boss of the Red Bull empire, who has taken up Mark Webber's cause since the incident.