We've now had 16 races of the 2011 season. Within those races Sebastian Vettel has won 10 Grand Prix and had 5 other podiums. His team-mate, Mark Webber has no race wins and 9 podiums.
In the last 25 years there are only 4 other occasions when a driver has become world champion whilst his team-mate has failed to win a single race. It was done twice by Michael Schumacher - the last time being 2001 when Rubens Barrichello was on the recieving end but even his stats compare well to Mark's this year. Rubens scored 5 second places, 5 third places, 2 fifth places and 4 retirements in 17 races - compared to Mark's 2 second place, 7 third places, 4 fourth places, 2 fifths, and 1 retirement.
Rubens 2001 season is the only season comparable to Mark's in the last 25 years. In 94 Scumacher won the title without his team-mate winning a race but as the second car was shared by 3 different drivers over the year its not comparrable it is worth mentioing though that of the 3 JJ Lehto never drove in F1 again, Promising 22 year old Jos Verstappen never got over the stigma and became a permanent back-marker and Johnny Herbert made up for 2 poor races that year by helping Benneton to the constructors the year after and contributing 2 GP wins.
In 1990 Senna won the title whilst Gerhard Berger in his first year with Mclaren didn't take any victories at all. He notched up 7 podiums in 16 races and finished 4th in the championship. Far worse than Webber I hear you cry but it was a completely different situation. The Mclaren was the front running car that season but only just from the Ferrari and at some event the Ferrari was clearly the superior car. That years title battle was between Senna and Prost and between them they won 11 of the 16 Grand Prix's with Prost's team-mate Mansell only claiming 1 victory and that being one he should really have Prost and can be argued cost Prost the championship.
1986 saw Prost win the title whilst his world champion team-mate Keke Rosberg was absolutely crushed and finished a lowly 6th in the championship - not even coming close to a victory. Once again it could be argued the situation was entirely different to the Webber situation currently. The Mclaren car was far far behind the superior Williams Honda and it was only the Williams in-fighting that let Prost sneek past to the title. Due to a combination of a terrible season and the death of his friend Elio De Angelis Keke retired at the end of the season - I guess the question I'm asking is should Mark Webber follow suite?
The point of this article is that its clear to see that in the last 25 years of Grand Prix racing no one driving the best car in the field has recieved such a walloping from their team-mate as Mark Webber yet he's been reward with a one year contract extension. Now you can argue with me that the Red Bull hasn't been the best car all season blah blah blah but there is no arguing that Mark has been hit for six. You also can't argue that Red Bull don't have a whole squad of driver talent sitting in the wings waiting for a chance. Red Bull can't really expect to have the type of dominance they've had this season next year can they? Surely they are not cocky enough to think that. So why hasn't the Webber situation been addressed? If they're fighting for the constructors next year with a Mclaren team who are getting ever closer and a Ferrari team that can't be counted out surely they need a number 2 who is going to bring home the bacon.
I know the argument that he is nicely settled in the team and that Seb is their number one and they don't want to upset the apple cart but surely the job of a number 2 is to get the results when the number 1 driver fails to - have we seen Webber even looking like he might do that? The one race this year Vettel was truely off form was Germany and Webber didn't do his job and hold the opposition off - he was beaten by both Hamilton and Alonso. In Japan a few weeks ago when Vettel backed of so he's get the title was Webber around to make it a good result for Red Bull? No. You have to say if you're Jamie Alguersuari or Sebastian Buemi, who both have had pretty good seasons, the thought that you're going to lose your seat at Toro Rosso whilst Webber keeps his drive at Red Bull must be a slap in the mouth. How can either do any worse than Mark has this season? Why not risk one of them for a season or even chuck in Ricciardo or Vergne and see how they can do.
It doesn't go with their brand of extreme sports and taking risks and I believe by being so desprete to hold on to stability Red Bull may cost themselves next years constructors title
In the last 25 years there are only 4 other occasions when a driver has become world champion whilst his team-mate has failed to win a single race. It was done twice by Michael Schumacher - the last time being 2001 when Rubens Barrichello was on the recieving end but even his stats compare well to Mark's this year. Rubens scored 5 second places, 5 third places, 2 fifth places and 4 retirements in 17 races - compared to Mark's 2 second place, 7 third places, 4 fourth places, 2 fifths, and 1 retirement.
Rubens 2001 season is the only season comparable to Mark's in the last 25 years. In 94 Scumacher won the title without his team-mate winning a race but as the second car was shared by 3 different drivers over the year its not comparrable it is worth mentioing though that of the 3 JJ Lehto never drove in F1 again, Promising 22 year old Jos Verstappen never got over the stigma and became a permanent back-marker and Johnny Herbert made up for 2 poor races that year by helping Benneton to the constructors the year after and contributing 2 GP wins.
In 1990 Senna won the title whilst Gerhard Berger in his first year with Mclaren didn't take any victories at all. He notched up 7 podiums in 16 races and finished 4th in the championship. Far worse than Webber I hear you cry but it was a completely different situation. The Mclaren was the front running car that season but only just from the Ferrari and at some event the Ferrari was clearly the superior car. That years title battle was between Senna and Prost and between them they won 11 of the 16 Grand Prix's with Prost's team-mate Mansell only claiming 1 victory and that being one he should really have Prost and can be argued cost Prost the championship.
1986 saw Prost win the title whilst his world champion team-mate Keke Rosberg was absolutely crushed and finished a lowly 6th in the championship - not even coming close to a victory. Once again it could be argued the situation was entirely different to the Webber situation currently. The Mclaren car was far far behind the superior Williams Honda and it was only the Williams in-fighting that let Prost sneek past to the title. Due to a combination of a terrible season and the death of his friend Elio De Angelis Keke retired at the end of the season - I guess the question I'm asking is should Mark Webber follow suite?
The point of this article is that its clear to see that in the last 25 years of Grand Prix racing no one driving the best car in the field has recieved such a walloping from their team-mate as Mark Webber yet he's been reward with a one year contract extension. Now you can argue with me that the Red Bull hasn't been the best car all season blah blah blah but there is no arguing that Mark has been hit for six. You also can't argue that Red Bull don't have a whole squad of driver talent sitting in the wings waiting for a chance. Red Bull can't really expect to have the type of dominance they've had this season next year can they? Surely they are not cocky enough to think that. So why hasn't the Webber situation been addressed? If they're fighting for the constructors next year with a Mclaren team who are getting ever closer and a Ferrari team that can't be counted out surely they need a number 2 who is going to bring home the bacon.
I know the argument that he is nicely settled in the team and that Seb is their number one and they don't want to upset the apple cart but surely the job of a number 2 is to get the results when the number 1 driver fails to - have we seen Webber even looking like he might do that? The one race this year Vettel was truely off form was Germany and Webber didn't do his job and hold the opposition off - he was beaten by both Hamilton and Alonso. In Japan a few weeks ago when Vettel backed of so he's get the title was Webber around to make it a good result for Red Bull? No. You have to say if you're Jamie Alguersuari or Sebastian Buemi, who both have had pretty good seasons, the thought that you're going to lose your seat at Toro Rosso whilst Webber keeps his drive at Red Bull must be a slap in the mouth. How can either do any worse than Mark has this season? Why not risk one of them for a season or even chuck in Ricciardo or Vergne and see how they can do.
It doesn't go with their brand of extreme sports and taking risks and I believe by being so desprete to hold on to stability Red Bull may cost themselves next years constructors title