Vettel has company at Red Bull

After taking the checkered flag at the British Grand Prix in 2010 Mark Webber famously got on the team radio and said: "Not bad for a No 2 driver!" Winning again at Silverstone last Sunday was further proof the 35-year-old's position as teammate to Sebastian Vettel is perfect for Red Bull Racing.

Webber's message back in 2010 was a comment on what he perceived as priority being given to Vettel - in particular the swapping of an updated front wing from his to the German's car (to replace one Vettel damaged) during that weekend's practice sessions.

Webber battled on and came very close to winning the driver's title that year. By the final race, it seemed Ferrari's Fernando Alonso would take the crown, so Vettel's eventual triumph was something of a surprise. Not so in 2011, when the German was the dominant bull not only within his team but across the paddock. If he wasn't before, Webber was certainly the No 2 at RBR last year.

This season, the Australian is much closer to his now double world champion teammate. And Sunday's victory (following that at Monaco in May) helped him close the gap to just 13 points behind championship leader Alonso. The Spaniard's second place was his 21st consecutive point scoring finish.

Both Red Bulls featured a special livery, boasting about 25,000 tiny photographs of supporters, which raised over 1 million Euros ($1.22 million) for the Wings for Life spinal cord charity. So Vettel's face at least appeared on the winning car at Silverstone. He was also far from slow, but, having qualified behind Michael Schumacher's Mercedes in Saturday's wet session, the 25-year-old found himself held up in the opening phase of the race. Nonetheless, Vettel made it to the podium for the first time since winning at Bahrain in April and stays third in the points - 29 from the top.

The German had also been kept behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari in the early stages. The Brazilian seems to have returned to form, and his gap to Alonso is now respectable. But it will always be respectful, and the Spaniard knows he can rely on Massa not getting in his way and also not stealing points.

The same is not true for Vettel. It would be quite surprising if he is not the faster and higher point-scoring RBR driver for the rest of the season. But Webber will be very close, and this conflict harms the chances of both men. Perhaps Ferrari would have been happy to have Webber join it next year - as was rumored. But the announcement of the Australian re-signing with Red Bull for 2013 is good news for the Scuderia and Alonso because it helps mitigate their strongest challenger - Sebastian Vettel.

After a successful career on the track, Matthew Marsh now works at JMI - the world's leading motor sports marketing company. He can be reached at mmarsh@justmarketing.com.

(China Daily 07/13/2012 page23)