Mat Coch writes:

At the end of the 2013 season Mark Webber will retire, bringing to an end a career which began with Minardi in 2002. Webber was a slow starter, he didn't win his first race until his 130th Grand Prix start subsequently taking the 2010 world championship fight to the final race in Abu Dhabi.

As his career gathered momentum at Red Bull so too did suggestions that he was unfairly treated by the team, which, it was frequently claimed, favoured Sebastian Vettel. It was a view not helped by the public support of Helmut Marko, nor the team's decision to strip Webber's car of development parts when Vettel damaged his own.

It's a point the team is quick to deny, assuring all who care listen that both cars are prepared equally and both drivers have the same opportunities. If development parts are available Sebastian Vettel, a three-time world champion, typically gets first refusal but that does not mean Webber receives anything but the highest quality parts the team can produce.

And yet the discord refuses to abate, after all it is always Webber's car that fails, not Vettel's. It is the Australian who bears the brunt of Red Bull's mechanical misdemeanours while his teammate scampers off to another victory, or so it is perceived.

However, it is a view without foundation, as one German fan discovered.

Writing on her blog, Who KERS, Rebecca Friese has discovered that in their 89 race partnership (including the Korean Grand Prix) both Webber and Vettel have had an almost equal helping of bad luck; Vettel has had 40 issues while Webber has had 46.

Rebecca tells us that among his 40 incidents Vettel has 33 mechanical problems, 3 lots of team orders which have disadvantaged him, twice clashed with his teammate and suffered two notable pit stop problems. As a result of those issues Vettel has been forced to climb from his Red Bull on eight separate occasions.

Contrast that to Webber's 34 mechanical gremlins, 3 team orders, two clashes with the bloke in the other Red Bull and seven pit stop problems. Crucially however of those 46 issues Webber was forced out of just four Grands Prix.

Allegations that Webber is therefore somehow treated as a second-class citizen by the Milton Keynes outfit do not appear to hold water.

The simple fact is that to win the Constructors' Championship, the championship which decides the prize money given to teams and therefore the one they all want to win, a leading team needs two leading cars and two leading drivers. For Red Bull to knowingly and deliberately disadvantage one would be suicide.

It is not a question of subterfuge by the team it's simply the result of having two fiercely competitive drivers pitted against one another in identical machinery. In any team there can only be one winner.

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1. Posted by f1datavis, 11/10/2013 15:40 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 11/10/2013 18:52)

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2. Posted by Paul C, 10/10/2013 4:45

"Webber has a lot of endurance racing in his background before testing and competing in F1. Mark drives to bring the car home first and stand on the podium second. He is the best teammate for a charge for the front driver like Vettel who had karts as a training ground before open wheel cars."

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3. Posted by Kkiirmki, 09/10/2013 20:10

"Why is it so hard to understand?...Webber's just not as good (by a long shot in my opinion) as Vettel, simple."

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No bull, Webber receives equal treatment

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