Mark Webber: “I’m totally over it and ready to go…”

Mark Webber says he has put the Turkey incident behind him and is ready to move on with the season. Despite all the fuss of last week, he says his views on what happend have not changed.

“Same as I said Sunday night to be honest,” he said in Montreal. “A tough day for the team, it was unfortunate. Move on.”

However, he did elaborate on what happened: “I turned my engine down because I had to save a bit more fuel, asked what position Seb was in with his fuel. I didn’t need much clarification because I knew that he was all over me. He’d saved a bit more fuel in the slipstream, so he could have a few more laps in a better fuel mixture if you like. We raced each other, and we knew what happened.

“In terms of these messages from the pit wall, it all happened in 70 seconds, basically. Everything was fine and 70 seconds, ‘Use to push to pass, don’t, where is it?, I don’t know, shit what happened?….’ Bang, it was all over. It happened fast. You guys [the media] have had 10 days to get your stuff together, and we had 60 seconds, and that’s actually what happened.

“I’m cool, absolutely fine. I’m totally over it, and ready to go this weekend. I’m looking forward to getting on the track.

“I was disappointed with the consequences, absolutely, but we’re moving on from there. You can talk as much as you want about it, but it doesn’t change anything.”

Webber says that the incident will not stop the two team mates racing each other.

“Yeah, we need to race each other still. Sometimes when you’re even more careful, different things happen. It was such a fine line what happened, the result wasn’t great obviously, one car didn’t finish, and in the future there is a big chance that we will race each other again.

“Your judgement as F1 drivers needs to be correct, whether I’m lapping Chandhok or racing Seb for the lead of the race, always as drivers we’re doing what we can to make the right calls from the cockpit, as I have done most of my career. When you’re racing at the front week-in, week-out, sometimes you’re going to have some action.”

Asked if he would now give Vettel more room he said: “Or vice versa? We’ll see. Every situation is different. Off the start we’ve Malaysia, we’ve had China, we’ve had stuff last year. I think the fans want drivers to race each other as well. The team had done their best to keep us driving at the front, and when you’re spending every fortnight on the same rows of the grid together, potentially racing each other all the time, you’re going to be close to each other. So we try to get the balance right for us, also as individuals in the team. Milton Keynes is working for both of us, and they want the best results out of whatever car that is.”

One of Webber’s biggest critics after the accident was Red Bull motor sport boss Helmut Marko, but Webber says he has no problem with him.

“Helmut wasn’t fully up to speed with all the facts at the time. Obviously he went pretty quick with his comments, we probably all learn and move on from that. Had a good chat to Helmut at the factory, he’s fine. He brought Seb along, he speaks the language, all those types of things. So you can expect a bit of emotional support that way. But I’m fine with that. There’s a lot of things that have happened with this time through his support, and I’ve been off the back of that as well.”

Meanwhile the Aussie recently signed up for another year with the team, a development that did much to calm things down in the camp.

 “We were very close to signing the contract before… Friday in Barcelona we were talking and very close to getting things done, and obviously Barcelona went very well for me. I’m bloody comfortable in the team, and have been since I arrived.

“Obviously when Seb arrived there was some nice momentum, you new charger, all that sort of stuff. I’ve just kept my head down and tried to do my job. It’s turned out pretty well for me this year, and the team have been great for both of us. That’s why we’ve got a good package and we’re pushing each other.”