Webber gets his win, Vettel rejects conspiracy theory

F1 News
Date: 28/November/2011

It was a case of better late than never for Mark Webber in Sunday’s Brazilian F1 season finale.

The Australian, a title contender in 2010, broke his 2011 victory drought at the last available opportunity - having taken advantage of a gearbox problem for Red Bull team-mate and world champion Sebastian Vettel.

“Obviously in motor sport you take them as they come,” said Webber. “It was actually brewing into a reasonable little battle with Seb. I’m not exactly sure when he started to have a few little issues, but obviously I can only control what I’m doing, so I kept pushing and then really it was down to covering off [third place] and making sure we loaded the tyres correctly to get to the flag.

“It’s been a pretty good year but not like 2010 obviously. So it’s a nice little tonic to finish the year on high and give the RB7 a bit of a send off, because it hasn’t had an amazing amount of memories for me. Today was a very special day and I’ll have that over the winter.”

Vettel, starting from a record 15th pole of the year, was notified of the need to nurse his gearbox early in the race, but still led the first 16 laps and - due to the pit stops - was credited as leading again as late as lap 59 of 71. 

“It was during the first stint, at some stage, that I got the message ‘we have a gearbox issue’. It sounded pretty strong, pretty severe, so I turned down the engine and then immediately started to short shift and it just kept getting worse,” said Vettel.

“At some stage I said that ‘I feel like Senna in 1991 when he had to manage the gearbox problem around here’. Obviously it was different for him, he still managed to win his home race.”

Although Vettel crossed the finish line 16.9sec behind Webber, the young German was still 10sec ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button - prompting one member of the media to suggest that the gearbox problem ‘might not be true’.

“I can tell you that I had a gearbox problem. I didn’t like the message but I had no choice,” replied Vettel. “Either you finish the race or you don’t. As I said, I turned down the engine, I felt happy in the car and I felt more and more able to understand the tyres and keep the pace reasonably well.

“I tried to stay as close as I could with Mark and then push where I was allowed to which was in the corners, because I was forced to use high gears and upshift earlier [when accelerating].

“Obviously it was more about getting the car to the chequered flag, but believe me, if I had the choice, I would have gone for the racing option.”

Webber didn’t think a problem had been faked to hand him a win, which ultimately moved the Australian one point ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (fourth on Sunday) for third in the final championship standings.

“I’ve agreed with you [the reporter] many times this year, but not this time,” said Webber.

That opinion was backed up by Button, who wasn’t surprised that Vettel had been able to mask the problem.

“Viewing this from the outside, I can say whatever I want, but as a driver you learn to adapt to a situation,” he said. “If you’re told to save fuel, if you’re told to save brakes, you drive in a different manner. Many times this year we’ve saved fuel and you can pretty much match an earlier lap time... That’s what we’re paid to do.”

Button’s third place confirmed the Englishman as finishing second in the 2011 Drivers’ Championship, albeit 122 points behind Vettel.