BRITISH GRAND PRIX MARK WEBBER blasted to victory at Silverstone yesterday and later branded the race "an appointment with karma" after his simmering battle for supremacy with Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel erupted into open warfare over the British Grand Prix weekend.
Following a collision involving the team-mates at the Turkish Grand Prix earlier this season, when the team had appeared to side with Vettel in apportioning blame for the accident, all had superficially returned to sweetness and light. But tensions between the title rivals have never been far from the surface and when, on Saturday, the team opted to remove a newly-developed front wing from Webber's car to replace a version Vettel had damaged in third practice and the German romped to pole position ahead of the Australian, the Australian went into meltdown.
Asked how he felt about the qualifying result, a clearly furious Webber murmured, "the team is happy with the result today". Vettel squirmed when asked if the team had given him preferential treatment, limply insisting there was little difference between the two components, despite Webber's assertion it was worth the tenth of a second he had been eclipsed by.
Team boss Christian Horner, meanwhile, insisted he had made "a difficult decision" but one he would make again. He would change his tune 24 hours later after a no-holds barred start saw Webber muscle past Vettel to take the lead, with the German driver soon dumped to the back of the field.
At lights out, Webber got away better and despite a desperate lunge from Vettel to block the assault, arrowed towards Copse narrowly ahead. Vettel responded, trying to make a move down the inside but the Australian held his line and the German was forced off track, a tiny tap from the following Lewis Hamilton - who had beaten Fernando Alonso to turn one - also puncturing Vettel's right rear tyre. The German limped to the pits for new hard tyres and resumed, in last place.
Webber was left alone at the front, with Hamilton the only company.
The McLaren driver attempted to apply pressure but the leading Red Bull driver's pace was simply too great and he cruised unmolested to the chequered flag.
Victory though wasn't enough to mollify a still seething Webber.
Crossing the line, Horner radioed through to the winner telling him "you can smile now". Webber's caustic response was telling. "Not bad for a number two driver," he said.
And he continued to rail against the perceived slights after climbing out of the car. "An appointment with Karma? Yeah," he said, when asked if there was any poetic justice in the result. "Yesterday was really a unique situation, and it was the first time we had one bit (between us). I would never have signed a contract for next year if I believed that was the way going forward. I was disappointed."
Vettel, meanwhile was working his way back through the pack, and when the safety car was called in following a collision between Adrian Sutil and Pedro de la Rosa, he was propelled to 11th. With the field bunched, Vettel was then able to claw his way to a battling seventh by the time Webber was crossing the line for victory. It was enough to keep the German in touch in the title fight, just seven points adrift of third-placed Webber.
After the race, Vettel refused to comment on the wing controversy but conceded his team-mate had made a better start and that the battle was one he had to give up.
"I moved to the right trying to defend, but he was already there, so there was no point in doing something stupid," he said. "The race is longer than just one corner. It's a shame I couldn't fight him then, but it's good for the team."
Horner was left to admit things will now change within the team. "Mark is now ahead in the points, so we will act differently at the next race," he conceded.
Hamilton held onto second ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg to consolidate his championship lead, which now sees him 12 points clear of team-mate Jenson Button, who drove superbly to climb from 14th to fourth, but it was Webber's act of vengeance that remained the talking point and he admitted victory had been the perfect response to the weekend's travails.
SILVERSTONE DETAILS
BRITISH GRAND PRIX(52 Laps)1 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1hr 24mins 38.200s, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:24:39.560, 3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:24:59.507,4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:25:00.186, 5 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:25:09.656, 6 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 1:25:10.371, 7 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:25:14.934, 8 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:25:19.132, 9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:25:19.799, 10 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:25:20.212, 11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:25:20.659, 12 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25:25.827, 13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:25:37.574, 14 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:25:40.585, 15 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:25:45.689, 16 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap, 17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap, 18 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 19 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps, 20 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps Not Classified: 21 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 44 Laps completed, 22 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 29 Laps completed, 23 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 19 Laps completed, 24 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 9 Laps completed
Leading World Championship Standings
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 145pts
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 133
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 128
4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 121
5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 98
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 90
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 83
8 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 67
9 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 36
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 35.
