Red Bull Racing motorsport director Dr Helmut Marko says he thinks the team’s number two driver, Mark Webber, can’t maintain winning form for a whole year and struggles with pressure.
Marko shared his thoughts about Webber, along with the Australian’s Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, in an interview with the energy drink company’s own Red Bulletin magazine.
Sixty-nine-year-old Marko told the publication, “It seems to me that Webber has on average two races per year where he is unbeatable, but he can’t maintain this form thoroughout the year. And as soon as his prospects start to look good in the championship, he has a little trouble with the pressure that this creates.”
“In comparison with Seb’s rising form, it seems to me that Mark’s form somehow flattens out”.
“Something that I think is also very important is that for much of his career, Mark was never in a top team, but he was always regarded as a high flyer if he only could get into the right team. Then Red Bull puts him in a car – a possible winner – and suddenly along comes this young kid [Vettel] and he snatches the booty from under Mark’s nose. Psychologically it’s not easy, of course; this would gnaw away at anyone’s confidence. It’s more than understandable.”
Marko, a former Grand Prix driver of 10 races, also makes mention of two-time Formula 1 World Champion, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, being “constantly involved in politics” and “psychological skirmishes”.
On the season of three-time Formula 1 World Champion and 2012 title holder, Vettel, Marko is full of praise saying, “Sebastian’s driving was virtually flawless. But he is a phenomenon: it is always like that.”
The 2013 Formula 1 season begins in Melbourne on March 14.
