The jury was out on Sunday after Mark Webber was ordered to hold station behind his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel.
A year ago, after his new front wing was removed from his car and handed to Vettel, Australian Webber furiously declared “not bad for a number 2 driver” as he won at Silverstone.

German Vettel went on to win the 2010 title as Red Bull insisted staunchly that team orders run against the philosophy of the team’s owner mogul Dietrich Mateschitz.

But in the closing stages of the British grand prix a year on, Webber was told by boss Christian Horner on the radio as he challenged Vettel for second place: “Maintain your position.”

The initial reports were that, despite team orders now being fully legal, the 34-year-old is furious and in fact ignored the order several times.

“I can understand Mark’s frustrations,” Horner told the BBC, “but we cannot give away a load of points.

“He should be fine with that, he is a team player.”

Webber commented: “I tried to do my best with the amount of conversation I had with the four or five messages of the team.”

Asked if he felt like repeating his ‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’ after crossing the line in third place, he added: “Not really, I wanted to race to the end.

“Of course they (Vettel’s side of the garage) want the points, but I also need to try to get some points as well.”

Even if Fernando Alonso wins the 2010 world championship, his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa will not be relegated to a full-time supportive role next year.

That is the claim of the famous Italian team’s boss Stefano Domenicali, even though Brazilian Massa was playing a subordinate role to Alonso’s title push even before his own title chances were mathematically over for this season.

Domenicali said Ferrari drivers race primarily in the interests of the Maranello based team.

“Our drivers have to know what is in the interest of the team,” he said in an interview with the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

“I can confirm that Felipe will be able to start from scratch in 2011, but always knowing that Ferrari is the most important,” added Domenicali.

He denied that Massa’s problems have only been about Bridgestone’s tyres in 2010.

“I trust him completely and want to make clear that he is a great team player and a great driver,” said the Italian.

“I think that when you do not have a perfect season, you have to look at yourself and react. Felipe knows that the team is with him. He knows we are here to make him the best driver he can be.

“I don’t think his performance is related only to the tyres. We have to put all the pieces together and try to understand the reasons for him not having the best possible season,” added Domenicali.

Felipe Massa on Thursday insisted he is not Ferrari’s number two driver, confirming he is aiming for victory this weekend in Hungary.
Since Hockenheim, where the Brazilian obeyed a team order to let teammate Fernando Alonso win, Brazilian cartoonists have depicted Massa as a puppet.

“People will see him now as a ‘yes man’ who bends to the will of the company,” David Coulthard wrote in his latest Telegraph column.

“And maybe they are right. Team player or stooge? The line is thin.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug said at a pre-race press conference in Hungary that the application of a driver hierarchy can affect motivation.

“If you say ‘you are number two’ … it’s a complex issue,” said the German.

“If the drivers are not fully motivated you will not achieve anything. That needs to be kept in mind,” added Haug.

Massa told reporters at the Hungaroring that he is aiming to win this weekend’s race, where last year he suffered life-threatening injuries in a qualifying crash.

“The time I have to I say I am the number two driver, I will not race anymore,” he pledged.

Earlier, he arrived at the Budapest venue with Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.