2 2010 BRITISH GP
With Mclarenmercedes and their drivers leading both championships, the pressure was on as Red Bull’s first title appeared to be slipping away ahead of round 10 of the 2010 campaign. The tension increased dramatically at Silverstone when Webber, who had run a revised nose wing during practice, was forced to hand it over to Sebastian Vettel for qualifying,
Vettel having damaged his.
After Vettel took pole, with Webber alongside, the German came off worst during the anticipated first-lap conflict and prompted Webber’s infamous line – “Not bad for a number two driver” – as the Aussie took the chequered flag.
“You could say there was lot of tension in the team,” grins Webber today. “Both of us on the front row and all this business about the nose. I think Christian [Horner, team boss] and the guys were worried about us going straight to the fence at the first corner. I remember talking to
Flav [Flavio Briatore, Webber’s manager] that morning and he said, ‘Just win the f***ing start!’
“It’s an amazing thing about Silverstone but the number two grid slot – on the old layout and the new – always had better grip. I had more than Seb and I thought about parking him a bit on the apex at Copse and screw his run to Becketts. Actually, I bumped him more than I probably wanted to because Lewis [Hamilton] touched him and cut Seb’s tyre. I went into Becketts with Seb right there: I came out – and he’d disappeared. I thought, ‘Sensational! He’s gone.’”
Webber defeated Hamilton’s Mclaren by 1.4s, after backing off late on, with everyone else more than 20s behind.
“We had a good car advantage there and I felt it was my race to win even though Lewis drove an awesome race,” adds Webber. “And, yeah, I couldn’t resist saying what I did when I crossed the line. Well, you couldn’t miss an opportunity like that, could you?”