Mark Webber has played down suggestions his allocation of chassis for the British grand prix demonstrates he is not treated equally with his teammate.

After his Barcelona and Monaco-winning car was damaged in his spectacular Valencia crash, the Australian will drive ‘Luscious Liz’ at Silverstone — the chassis humorously named by Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the season.

But after sub-standard performances in May, Vettel was given a new car in Turkey.

Red Bull has now repaired Luscious Liz.

“There was nothing wrong with it. It’s fine. It’s all we’ve got anyway,” Webber told reporters at the team’s Milton Keynes factory on Wednesday.

Also fully fit for this weekend’s race is the Australian himself, despite some minor injuries caused by his backflip crash with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus.

“I had a bit of whiplash, and I bashed my right foot pretty hard on the top of the chassis,” he revealed.

“I knew straight away that I’d hit my big toe pretty hard (but) you could injure yourself more in your lounge room.”

Meanwhile, Webber made clear his opinion after Lotus technical boss blamed him for the Valencia crash.

When British reporter Byron Young, of the Mirror, virtually launched his car whilst driving the Red Bull simulator, Webber observed wryly: “You didn’t even have any shitboxes to avoid.”

Red Bull driver Mark Webber will be at the wheel of ‘Luscious Liz’ at this weekend’s British grand prix.

The RB6 chassis was named by his teammate Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the season, before it sustained damage and the German underperformed while Webber dominated in Barcelona and Monaco.

So Vettel, 23, stepped into the winter testing chassis and called it ‘Randy Mandy’.

Meanwhile, the car driven to Webber’s earlier emphatic wins this season has been temporarily retired after his backflip in the recent European grand prix.

After a tour of the team’s Milton Keynes factory on Wednesday, the news agency PA said Webber will now race Vettel’s earlier chassis.

The crashed car, currently featuring scrawled messages including ‘RIP’ courtesy of the mechanics, is now being repaired and will be used as the spare monocoque in Britain.

“I don’t get attached to cars, but clearly that one was unique,” said Webber, 33.

He revealed that after he won at Monaco, the team promised him he could keep the RB6.

“They’ll probably give me something else (now),” he added. “But the car did a great job for me in two cases. It won races for me, and it looked after me when I needed it.”

Webber’s new car is unlikely to feature the ‘Luscious Liz’ signage on the dashboard, with the Australian admitting his relationship with German Vettel is “pretty good” after their Istanbul crash but they don’t get on “like a house on fire”.

“If Seb’s drowning in the ocean then I’ll go and help him out. It’s not easy to have a beautiful, fuzzy, warm relationship when your teammate is clearly a competitor,” he said.

Red Bull Racing is building up a new chassis for Mark Webber after his backflip crash during last Sunday’s European grand prix.

The Australian emerged unhurt from the frightening impact, which included a backwards somersault, a smash against an advertising hoarding whilst airborne, and a high speed final shunt into the tyre barrier.

The actual chassis was the one driven by Webber, 33, to a handful of pole positions and his wins in Barcelona and Monaco.

“It’s been good to me,” he said.  “It was very safe, thank god.”

BBC’s pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz on Wednesday reported that Webber will drive a brand new RB6 at Silverstone next weekend.

The new chassis is “currently being built up at the team’s Milton Keynes factory”, he said.

Webber slipped from third – a position now held by his teammate Sebastian Vettel – to fifth in the world championship with his Valencia crash.  Recently the drivers’ standings leader, he is now 24 points behind Lewis Hamilton.

“I lost some points, but in the end when you’re up there (in the air), you’re not worried about points, I was worried that I was ok and ready for Silverstone,” he said.

“The chassis has been good to me, and it has been good to me (in Valencia) as it saved me from some injures.

“I remain incredibly positive, we go on, it’s half way through the championship.  Bloody hell, let’s get on with it,” added Webber.

(GMM)

Mark Webber awoke on Monday morning determined to return to the cockpit of his Red Bull at Silverstone next weekend.

The Australian on Sunday survived one of the most frightening crashes seen in recent times, when his RB6 struck the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus before backflipping and wiping out an advertising hoarding.

Webber, 33, then careered into a tyre barrier but emerged from the cockpit relatively unscathed.

After a visit to the medical centre and a shower, he told reporters at the circuit that he is sporting a few bumps and bruises.

“I’m a little bit tender here and there but the car did a great job,” he said.

And after a night’s sleep, he wrote on his AussieGrit Twitter account: “Feeling good this morning, roll on Silverstone”.

He told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “I have a bit of swelling in some places, but I’ll be fit for Silverstone.”

Red Bull is yet to confirm the health of the actual car; the same one driven by Webber to a handful of pole positions and his wins in Barcelona and Monaco.

“It’s been good to me,” he smiled.


Whilst being checked by doctors in Valencia’s medical centre on Sunday, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen shook hands.

Webber’s Red Bull had backflipped spectacularly at full speed after hitting the back of Kovalainen’s slower Lotus, before ploughing headfirst into a tyre barrier.

Pundits immediately said Finn Kovalainen should have let Webber pass, due to the big speed difference between their cars.

“In the end the thing that surprised me was how early he braked, that’s the thing which caught me out,” Webber told the BBC.

He was slightly critical of Kovalainen’s “aggressive” driving, but said the real reason for the crash was the difference between the cars.

“It turns out it’s about 80 metres before I braked for the previous lap so I mean it’s a different category,” said Webber.

Also to the BBC, Kovalainen said he thought Webber was “surprised how early I had to brake”, but in a press release said he must have “missed his braking point and he ran into me”.

Sebastian Vettel declared on the radio he is “back on track” after winning Sunday’s European grand prix.

“Germany one, England nil,” grinned third-placed Jenson Button, before leaving the FIA press conference to watch Germany score the first goal for real as the countries battle for World Cup survival in South Africa.

With his win, pole sitter Vettel snatches third place in the world championship – behind both McLarens – from his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who escaped unhurt from a frightening backflip crash.

Caused by the Australian striking the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, the crash mirrored one during the earlier GP2 race, in which Josef Kral was hospitalised.

Some figures, including David Coulthard, slammed Kovalainen’s decision to race Webber’s much faster car, but Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne said on Twitter that the Finn was “pissed off with Webber”.

“For all those saying we should not have defended from Webber, when it is for position on track we race,” Gascoyne insisted.  “Always.”

The race was also controversial for other reasons.  Hamilton finished second after a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car, while Fernando Alonso did not make the illegal pass and finished just ninth.

“It is really unfair, it is like no penalty,” Alonso’s race engineer Andrea Stella told the angry Spaniard by radio during the race.

And nine drivers – Button, both Williams, both Renaults, both Force Indias, Sebastien Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa – are under investigation by the stewards for driving too fast on their pitstop in-lap while the safety car was out.

If penalised, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi – finishing behind four of the investigated drivers – could be the big winner, after finishing seventh with an unique race strategy that saw him make a very late single pitstop.

By performing impressive late-race passes on Fernando Alonso and Buemi, meanwhile, the Japanese also rekindled memories of his stirring late debut for Toyota last year.

Provisional Race Result -  27 June 2010