Former F1 winner and F1 team owner Gerhard Berger has claimed Mark Webber knew exactly what he was doing when he collected Nico Rosberg after crashing out of the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday - although he believes the Aussie was aiming for someone else, namely one of his title rivals.
Webber had gone into the seventeenth round in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, leading the title race, 14 points up on Fernando Alonso. However his mistake in the early stages when he got caught out by the tricky conditions cost him dear. He now drops to second in the standings, 11 points off the top.
Speaking to Servus TV, Berger said Webber could easily have avoided coming back onto the track after hitting the wall.
"He could have hit the brakes and stopped the car at the wall," said Berger, who raced in F1 from 1984-1997, winning ten grand’s prix during spells with teams such as McLaren, Ferrari and Benetton. "He took out [Nico] Rosberg, but it was the wrong one. I think in his mind he would have preferred Alonso or [Lewis] Hamilton.
“It was very clear [what he was trying to do]. He goes off and he knows it's over. In this moment you're frustrated and a thousand thoughts go through your head. It's very obvious, you can see his wheels are not locked up. Perhaps he had a brake problem, but I don't think so."
Rosberg, who had fought his way up to fourth in his Mercedes, was similarly suspicious: "I don't understand why Webber didn't hit the brakes. It was crazy to roll back across the track like that.
“It was really difficult to judge which way Mark's car would go and I took the decision to go left but he spun more and more that way and I just couldn't avoid him. It's a real shame," Rosberg added.
Reaction:
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See Mark Webber's crash in Korea and judge for yourself:
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