Ecclestone was also scathing about Mercedes’ treatment of Rosberg in Kuala
Lumpur, arguing: “I was disappointed that Mercedes didn’t let Rosberg go
past. I thought that was a stupid decision. I think Rosberg could have
chased the two Red Bulls down a little more. That decision wasn’t sensible.”
Ecclestone has developed a particularly close bond with Vettel since the
25-year-old phenomenon’s arrival in the sport in 2006, and did not believe
that the German had been guilty of hot-headedness despite Horner’s
description of the incident as “silly”.
“I suppose, from Christian’s point of view, he was concerned that there was
going to be an accident, with neither of them finishing,” he said. “Looked
at from that angle, you could say both of them were silly. The guy to back
off could have been Sebastian. On the other hand, they’re racing. Sebastian
wants to win the world championship, and so does Mark.”
Asked if he felt Vettel’s behaviour had been out of character, he responded:
“Sebastian is a racer, he doesn’t know about losing. He doesn’t want to
lose. Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.”
Only when the championship was on the line, Ecclestone claimed, was it right
to employ team orders. “When you are threequarters of the way through the
year, then it’s important. If there is only one guy who could get enough
points to win the title, then the other guy should be helping him, for sure.”
Recalling a similar problem he encountered while at Brabham, the team he owned
for 16 years from 1971, Ecclestone explained: “I had one driver challenging
for the world championship – I’m not going to say who it was – and the other
guy that weekend happened to be b—– quick. I said to him, ‘Whatever you
do, you ought to take it easy and let the other guy pass you’. He said, ‘I
wouldn’t do that.’ So I replied, ‘Well, you can stand up in the seat of the
car and wave him past, so the whole world can see this if you want.’ But he
insisted, ‘I’m not going to do it’. So we just made sure he didn’t have
enough fuel in the car to finish the race.”
Ecclestone doubted, though, whether even he in Red Bull’s position could have
the power to force Webber to co-operate. “Imagine a situation where
Sebastian was fighting against Alonso for the championship, and those points
made a difference. If I was running the team I would say to Mark, ‘Look,
this is the position. You can’t win the championship but Sebastian can, and
it would be nice for the team if we had a world champion again’. But the
problem is that conversation wouldn’t go down too well with Mark. He would
say, ‘Well, remember what happened’.”
Agreeing that Webber, at 36, was a brooding type not disposed to taking the
perceived slight from his younger team-mate lightly, Ecclestone said: “He
won’t. For sure. I’m a big, big supporter of Mark’s, and we’re very good
friends. But Sebastian is a three-time world champion so maybe people should
have a bit more respect for him, too.”