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Red Bull must not fight

Red Bull must not fight

07/22/2010 12:53:33 AM

Former world champion Nigel Mansell believes Red Bull team-mates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel must put their troubles behind them if they are to have any hope of stopping Lewis Hamilton from claiming his second world title.

Hamilton's second place at Silverstone 10 days ago allowed the Briton to pull 12 points clear of reigning champion and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button ahead of this weekend's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

Webber beat Hamilton to first place at Silverstone, but the win was soon overshadowed by the Australian's comments after the race when he sarcastically sniped over his in-car radio that his performance was 'not bad for a No.2 driver'.

Webber was unhappy with team principal Christian Horner's decision to remove a new front wing from his car and hand it to Vettel after the one on the German's car broke during final practice.

The controversy came seven weeks after the team-mates crashed at the Turkish Grand Prix, denying the team what could have been a vital one-two finish in Istanbul.

Mansell, who won the drivers' championship in 1992, admits the pair must sort their differences out if they are to rediscover the form which saw them dominate the early stages of the season.

"There is obviously trouble in the Red Bull camp at the moment," said Mansell.

"The decision they took obviously upset Mark but the main thing is to put that behind them, get on with it and let their actions on the track do the talking because that's the most important thing for any driver."

"They have a great team, great drivers, fantastic engineers and a fantastic team manager but everyone knows that the two drivers are having some challenges between themselves, and that isn't conducive to the team doing well nor the drivers themselves so they have to settle down."

Horner insists that both drivers are treated as equals by the Milton Keynes based team, and that any problems between the two will be resolved quickly.

Mansell is also confident that the pair can work things out, and insists that Webber can still claw back the 17-point difference between himself and Hamilton.

"I think the team is strong enough to sort it all out," said Mansell.

"When you get anyone on the track in F1 you want to beat everyone, even your team-mate but what you have to do is look at the bigger picture."

"As the races come along the intensity will get even higher. We may even see some side-to-side and front-to-wing exciting racing between Jenson and Lewis."

"The great thing is that Red Bull still won the race [at Silverstone]. Mark still has a chance to be champion. He has done an outstanding and fantastic job. Mark is a great driver, he has been under a lot of pressure and I would congratulate him if he won it."

Mansell has been impressed with the recent form of Hamilton, who will be looking to finish inside the top two this weekend for the fifth-consecutive race.

He said: "I'm sure that Lewis is just going to keep getting better and better. Jenson has brought a maturity to the team that Lewis is just feeding off at the moment."

"Those two together are doing a fantastic job. They're complementing each other well."

"If Lewis can keep racing how he is, it will make him drive better, feel better, and he'll be in the position where he can make all the choices."

"If he can start to settle for second or third place then it will give him an important buffer zone that the other drivers don't have so he has put himself in a fantastic position."

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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