Webber: Free to race – most of the time

Mark Webber says that after talks with team boss Christian Horner he is free to race team-mate Sebastian Vettel, at least “most of the time”…

Mark Webber says that after talks with team boss Christian Horner he is free to race team-mate Sebastian Vettel, at least “most of the time.”

Following the British GP, during which Webber was told to hold stations while fighting Vettel for second place, the Aussie publicly admitted that he was not happy with the use of team orders.

He also revealed that he had ignored them for as long as possible. This, as to be expected, resulted in a behind-closed-doors chat with team boss Horner.

However, it seems Webber is happy with the outcome of the conversation, revealing that if the situation were to be reversed in the future, Vettel would also be told not to attack.

“We had a chat straight after the race debrief. Christian put his view forward of how the situation built and he came to the decision he made.

“And I put my case forward in how the situation built and we thought that we were both making the right decision – him to make the call for the team’s interests and I was in a situation where I was trying to improve my own position.

“We spoke about it. He guaranteed me that it would have been the same situation the other way around if Seb was closing in on me, he would have still shut the race down.

“It was over pretty quick really.

“If there is a similar situation, it is not often that you are closing in the last few laps, that was the awkward one I think.

“We are still free to race most of the time – it was an awkward one and it is not often that things like that happen in terms of the time of the race, and up until then we will be racing.”

Pressed as to why he had initially chosen to ignore his pit wall during the British race, Webber said it was in response to Horner’s comments last season about never enforcing team orders on his drivers like Ferrari did at the 2010 German GP.

“That’s why I made the decision. I wasn’t thinking about Hockenheim, but I was thinking about trying to pass Sebastian.

“He was not having the best stint for him and I was having a reasonable stint so I was just trying to pass him, clearly there is a question you need to ask him – see how he feels about it now.

“Nothing really changes for me. I am comfortable with what I did at Silverstone.

“The points are important, but it is momentum and having the opportunity to improve. If Fernando is stopping on the last lap, which is unusual, but if he is…it makes it a bit more tricky.

“There are some questions that you guys need to ask Christian, which I cannot answer.”