Webber denies talk of Vettel assistance

Mark Webber has denied trying to be “fancy” around Monaco in an attempt to assist Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

With Webber on pole and Vettel starting from ninth on the grid, the team were forced to adopt different strategies for their two drivers.

Come the conclusion Webber grabbed the eighth win of his Formula One career, and second around Monaco, whilst Vettel at least climbed up to fourth.

It has been suggested, however, that with light drizzle falling over the closing laps Webber deliberately backed up the field to allow the German a potential crack at second-placed Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso who finished third.

Webber, however, has admitted neither he nor the team are that cute as he said: "That is absolute rubbish. You just cannot be that fancy around Monaco.

"Ultimately, Seb ran out of tyres and he had to pit because the rest of us started to go quicker, but if they'd kept going he would have been pushing for the win.

"If we had been trying anything on, I could have been even cuter.

"I cleared Seb (in the pit stop) by quite a lot. If I'd wanted to slide him in among other people, I could have slowed down and it would have been even better for the team. But it just wasn't part of the plan.

"The problem with trying to do that would be that you're exposing yourself to even more pressure from the guys behind - Nico and Fernando in this case.

"And then the boys in the pits might mess up Seb's stop and it would all be for nothing."

Writing in his BBC column, Webber added: "You always get bitten on the bum when you get fancy. So you just don't try."

PA