Christian Horner says he has no worries about a repeat of the problems Red Bull experienced in 2010 now that Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are both serious title contenders.
In a similar situation two years ago there was considerable tension in the camp, highlighted by the Silverstone wing saga and their clash in the Turkish GP.
“It’s a nice headache to have,” said Horner when asked by this blog. “As we always do we’ll do our best to support them, and ultimately it’s down to what they do on the track. At the end of the day Mark won this race because he deserved to win this race, and he drove a great GP.
“I think 2011 was a very tough year for Mark, but credit to him, he’s gone away and reflected on that season and come back and got himself in great shape. I think he’s very comfortable in his approach and in his mind, and possibly some of the regulation changes have helped as well. He’s very much a championship contender. We’re in a fortunate position where we’ve got both of our drivers as genuine championship contenders.”
Horner says the relationship between Webber and Vettel is better than it was.
“I think they’ve spent more time racing each other. They sit in 100s of hours of meetings together working on developing the car, they work as team members, and then it’s down to what they do on the track. I think there’s a genuine respect between the two of them.
“Sebastian’s achieved a huge amount in a short space of time, but he knows in Mark he’s got a very genuine competitor. Mark knows Sebastian is the benchmark or has been the benchmark for the last few years. It’s a healthy situation for the team.
“I think they have more experience, the team has more experience. We’ve seen them race closely at previous races and I’m sure there will be close racing between them in races to come.”
Adam Cooper F1 