F1 News
Date: 8/June/2012
F1 star Mark Webber has made clear that, while he is prepared to accept criticism on just about any racing issue, he draws the line at suggestions he has won with an ‘illegal car’.
Following Webber’s recent Monaco win, the FIA issued a directive banning holes in the floor of the car ahead of the rear wheels, as used by Red Bull.
The FIA’s verdict seemed to vindicate the view of some rival teams, which had threatened to protest the Red Bull design.
But since the directive does not apply in retrospect, Webber’s Monaco win - like that of team-mate Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain - still stands.
Some will doubtless claim the directive means the Red Bull wins were taken with an ‘illegal car’, a suggestion that makes Webber’s blood boil.
“In relation to winning races with an illegal car, I’m happy to be called lots of things and I’m happy to have criticism about my driving and lots of stuff, but I will not take criticism in that respect,” he said.
“It completely pisses me off to be honest, because the car has passed every single technical regulation after the race.
“All of the teams that were against it did not make any protest after Monaco, the car passed the test after Bahrain, the car passed the test after Monaco and now there has been a clarification on the rule.
“The rule now is different and we had a car that was legal for the first part of the season and now the rule has been changed and we will start again, so looking forward to it.”
Webber, 35, added that Red Bull was going to remove the holes for performance reasons anyway.
“You won’t believe us but we had some changes for Valencia anyway which included no hole, irrespective of the rule change,” declared the Australian.
Turning to a lighter subject, Webber gave his thoughts on the unpredictable nature of the 2012 F1 season to date, which has seen six winners from the first six rounds, heading into this weekend’s Canadian event.
“I don’t think there are many top teams at the moment,” he said. “Obviously it’s very tight between everyone’s performances. It looks quite sensitive to venue, quite sensitive to temperatures, quite sensitive to drivers, even.
“It’s quite open, and that’s why we’ve seen some different results, different podiums, different winners, like we haven’t seen before.
“I think that the teams which were not very good with the regulations last year, like Ferrari, Williams, Sauber - they were not very quick with the blown floor [banned for 2012] - they had a good step this year, coming back to the people that made the blown floor very strong, like McLaren and Red Bull. That’s the way it is.”
Free practice at Montreal takes place on Friday.
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