“Kids with not enough experience… f**k it all up” – When Mark Webber lashed out at Sebastian Vettel before the latter even joined Red Bull

Formula 1 has seen multiple fierce rivalries ever since its first race in 1950 but some of those rivalries have etched themselves in the memory of the F1 fans. One such rivalry came from the Red Bull camp in the early 2010s between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

The duo were partners in numerous on-track collisions which led to finger-pointing, penalties and whatnot during their time together as teammates. But before they even became teammates, there came one more incident that left a bad taste in the Australian’s mouth.

At the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, the race began in rainy conditions, Vettel drove a Toro Rosso(Red Bull’s sister team) at the time and had worked his way up to third place behind Webber in second.

During a safety car period, Webber had a good chance to score his maiden win after 101 race starts in the sport. But right then Vettel ploughed into his Red Bull in his sixth GP forcing both cars to retire.

Post-race, Webber fumed at the young German on live TV saying, “It’s kids, isn’t it? Kids with not enough experience – you do a good job and then they f**k it all up.”

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Lewis Hamilton was actually responsible for the accident

Following the incident, Vettel was handed a 10-place grid penalty for the next race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

However, later a further examination of the footage that was made available to the stewards changed the initial decision. A video that was taken from the grandstand, available on YouTube showed Hamilton driving erratically and slowing up and down.

The video showed Hamilton pilling over to the right-hand side of the track and slowing down which led Webber into slowing down and Vettel into wrecking the cars.

The drivers behind Hamilton had even criticised the Briton for his driving tactics. The incident was not captured by the Television cameras.

Sebastian Vettel was reprimanded

Following the revelation of the videos, Vettel’s 10-place grid penalty was reduced to a reprimand. Meanwhile, Hamilton escaped any punishments.

Later on, Webber said that Hamilton’s driving must have contributed to Vettel hitting him and he even brought it up during the drivers’ meeting.

He further clarified that he had no point made any complaints to the stewards about the incident.

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