Briatore: Red Bull drivers are enemies

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have been described as “two enemies” inside Red Bull and with a relationship now broken beyond repair.

That is the view of a former team principal Flavio Briatore, who has for many years been a part of Webber’s management team.

Vettel has come in for severe criticism since blatantly disregarding team orders at Webber’s expense and going on to claim victory in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

Although Vettel apologised to Webber for his actions, Briatore feels in light of previous acrimony between the duo, what occurred at the weekend is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I think there’s no relationship anymore,” said Briatore, speaking to RAI Radio.

“It was already very formal beforehand between the two Red Bull drivers, that was very clear last year, but I don’t think this relationship can be fixed.

“They are two professionals, they will win races and so on, but it’s unthinkable Mark may help Vettel in the future, and I don’t think Vettel will help Mark.

“So we’ll have two enemies inside a single team.”

Asked whether he expected either driver to leave at the end of this season, Briatore replied: “That’s for sure.”

Briatore, former team principal at Benetton and Renault before being banned from F1 in 2009 for his involvement in the ’crashgate’ saga only for the ruling to be overturned, has also savaged Christian Horner.

The Italian believes Red Bull team principal Horner should have shown stronger leadership rather than allowing Vettel to ride roughshod over his judgment.

With advisor Helmut Marko, who has long been the right hand man to owner Dietrich Mateschitz, also pulling some strings behind Horner, Briatore said: “Sepang was proof no one is in charge at Red Bull.

“Vettel is the boss there. You can’t have a team manager also doing the driving.

“If there was a manager with balls, he (Horner) would have had them switch positions again.

“The problem is there are two people with different ideas on the pit wall, with Helmut behind them doing the talking with Mateschitz, so you understand they are all scared.”

Briatore further slated Horner for allowing technical director Adrian Newey to join the drivers on the podium rather than going himself.

“Normally the team principal goes on the podium at the first race win of the season,” remarked Briatore.

“Christian didn’t even have the strength to get on the podium because they’re terrified with a driver in charge instead of the team manager.

“You’d first go yourself if you win the championship or the first race, and after that you’d send race engineers or your technical director.

“The fact Christian didn’t go on the podium after scoring a one-two says a lot about his weakness compared to the others.”

Webber’s father, Alan, meanwhile has confirmed his son is not about to immediately turn his back on F1.

Webber claimed on Sunday, when asked whether he would now consider his future, that he had thought about “many things” in the closing stages of the race.

Speculation then surfaced that given Webber’s anger at the time he would consider pulling out of the next race weekend in China from April 12-14.

Dismissing the claim, Webber Snr said: “We’ll be up in China for the next one.”

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Webber Snr has made it clear this latest incident has only served to drive the wedge deeper between his son and Vettel.

“I think it will take a while to earn the respect and trust again,” he added, further claiming the team are far from happy with their three-times world champion.

He said: “Sebastian disobeyed team orders and most, if not all the team, are disappointed with him.

“Up and down the pit lane Mark has not lost any credibility at all. It’s probably Sebastian who has lost an awful lot.”