Sebastian Vettel’s former boss, Gerhard Berger, believes the young German is fulfilling the role of ‘team-leader’, whilst Mark Webber has fallen into a support role.
The Australian has suffered from what some would called ‘rotten luck’ this season. He experienced chassis issues at the season opener in Melbourne, KERS problems at last weeks Malaysian GP as well as qualifying for the Chinese GP which ultimately saw him qualify 18th.
Vettel has however outpaced the 34-year-old consistently, putting Webber in a difficult position as a definite number two within the team.
Berger was asked if comparisons could be made between Michael Schumacher’s days at Ferrari when he overshadowed Rubens Barrichello. That led to the team clearly favouring the seven-time world champion.
“It looks like it,” he told Welt Online. “Sebastian was already faster than him [Webber] last season, Webber, during the mid-season, was a little nervous. Now there is a huge gap between the two. The roles are clear.
“He wanted to be the youngest world champion, the first for Red Bull, he wanted to be better than his team-mate Mark Webber, he has succeeded in all of that,” added the former F1 driver.
“It’s difficult to cope mentally if it’s not going so well, the pressure is larger from the team, the fans and the media.
“I believe that the time will come when Webber will win races again because he is an excellent driver, but the overall picture is that Vettel is absolutely the team leader.”
Discussion about this post