Alan Jones: “Webber must consider Vettel as one more enemy”

By not respecting the instructions given by his team in Malaysia, Sebastian Vettel opened hostilities against his teammate, Mark Webber, stating, on the eve of the Chinese Grand Prix, that the Australian was not worthy of receiving favors from him. A decision which Mark Webber must acknowledge according to Australian Alan Jones: “Sebastian Vettel has proven that he cannot be trusted, so from now on, Mark Webber should simply consider him just another enemy,” assesses the 1980 world champion in the columns of the Guardian. And the former Williams driver adds: “If Sebastian didn’t like what was going to happen [in Malaysia], he shouldn’t have signed a contract with Red Bull in the first place.”

Alan Jones speaks from experience: “I had a similar experience with Carlos Reutemann in 1981.” During the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix, the Argentine, leading the race, ignored Williams’ instructions to let the reigning world champion pass: an outraged Jones decided not to participate in the podium ceremony. Later, when the Argentine proposed to the Australian to bury the hatchet, he retorted: “Yeah, in your back!” At the end of a season marked by their rivalry, Reutemann and Jones saw Nelson Piquet emerge victorious, finishing second and third in the drivers’ standings, one and four points behind the Brazilian world champion, respectively.

Alan Jones, who had announced his retirement at the end of the famous 1981 season, does not despair that his compatriot can fight for the 2013 title, even though, with 32 points in the drivers’ standings, he is already 45 points behind the triple world champion German: « Even if I don’t think we will have as many different winners this year as in 2012, there are clearly a number of drivers capable of winning races. In this situation, the title will be won by the most consistent driver. We know that Mark is good enough and has a good enough car to be consistent in his performances. »