F1 Turkish Grand Prix - Red Bull Team Makes Short and Long Term Mistakes

Topics:  Turkish Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing

Lemmy Gibson
June 9, 2009

The Turkish Grand Prix came off much as most of the races this year in Formula One have – Jenson Button and Brawn GP too the win. While they continued to dominate the season, it was hard to ignore the mistakes made at Red Bull and what they could mean long term.

Red Bull Racing is in a unique position. They are a privateer team with a huge sponsor. This has allowed them to bring in some talented individuals such as designer Adrian Newey. They also happen to have the most exciting and talented young driver in the sport in Sebastian Vettel. Many of the bigger teams have been eyeing Vettel and the conduct of the team in Turkey certainly will not make it easy to retain the young sensation.

Vettel started from pole position with Jenson Button lining up next to him in the lightening fast Brawn car. Vettel maintained his position at the start but went off track just enough in turn nine to allow Button by. At this point, the three pit stop strategy he was on should have changed to a two stop. Red Bull for some reason failed to do this. This resulted in Vettel dropping back behind his teammate, Mark Webber, and raised a lot of eyebrows around the track.

Following his third stop, Vettel came out behind Webber and started putting down blistering laps and was set to pass his teammate before the end. In a classic moment, his team was caught on the broadcast telling him that Webber was faster and he should slow down even though Vettel was nearly a second faster than Webber each lap! There was a frosty silence from Vettel in reply, but he did slow down and not pass his teammate.

Vettel is a happy go luck sort and always has a smile. Well, that was true until the press conference in Turkey. Vettel was seething and admitted as much. You can be he had words for the management of Red Bull when he returned to the team later and he was right to complain. Webber is a veteran driver who is solid, but has never won a race much less contended for any championship. Many wonder why Red Bull would favor him over Vettel in such a moment.

There is no mistaking Sebastian Vettel is a future champion. Although the comparison is grossly unfair, he looks and drives like a young Michael Schumacher. While the merits of Vettel are established, the same cannot be said about Red Bull. Given the events at the Turkish Grand Prix, look for Vettel to move to a team with a history of winning championships sooner rather than later. With Kimi Raikkonen undoubtedly losing his ride at Ferrari at the end of this season, we might just see Vettel with the Scuderia in 2010.

Lemmy Gibson writes and rants at PullingGsRacing.com where you can get the latest F1 news.

Source: Amazines.com