WEBBER'S WHINING IS LOUDER THAN HIS CAR!

There is an interesting contrast this week between two sports and their respective interpretation of the word “team”.

In Formula 1 a team consist of two cars and two drivers who are jointly financed in their pursuits. Behind the drivers is an extended team of mechanics, engineers, technicians and so on whose collective aim is:

1.       To win the constructors World Championship and demonstrate they are the best team, and

2.       To have one of their drivers win the individual Driver’s Championship.

Given the way the points system works of you succeed in goal 1, then there is a good chance that you will achieve Goal 2 and vice versa.

The ultimate responsibility of achieving these goals rests with the Team Manager who deploys his / her resources to the betterment of the team, a significant part of which is paying vast sums of money to the Drivers who risk their lives piloting the state-of-the-art machines around the track under race conditions. This is a VERY BIG business with much at stake for all concerned.

At the British Grand Prix, Australian Red Bull driver, Mark Webber, openly ignored his team’s direct orders which were to not to try and overtake his team mate, Sebastian Vettel, in the closing stages of the race.  In making repeated attempts to pass his team mate he risked a racing incident which would have seen them both out of the race and the chances of achieving Goals 1 and 2 would have been somewhat damaged.

Webber - not happy with being a No.2

Vettel, the current World Champion, is a 24 year old protégé who will, accident permitting, have a long life in F1 and may even emulate the feats of his countryman, Michael Schumacher, and win multiple World titles. Webber is a 34 year old journeyman who has had the amazing opportunity late in his career to drive arguably the best car on the track. The problem is that Webber does not seem to realise, and to be fair his team haven’t helped by telling him directly, that he is the “domestique” of the team and that he will always be required when necessary to play second fiddle to his more able team mate.

Webber is therefore paid a lot of money to drive well and to do what he is told by the team and for him to jeopardise the success of the team, (and his and Vettel’s own safety) by ignoring team instructions beggars’ belief. One can only feel at this twilight stage of his career that he feels this may be his last chance to win a Championship and hence all loyalty and commonsense is thrown out of the window. (Although F1 cars do not actually have windows).

Webber’s elevation to World Championship points scorer over the last few years has coincided with him driving one of the best cars on the grid and hence it is not drawing a long bow to suggest that if he again disrespects the greater good of the team for his own personal ambition he could well find himself relegated down the grid to a lesser rated team next season.

Meanwhile over in France the most watched sports event on the planet is slowly (compared to F1 anyway) meandering its scenic way around the French countryside seemingly taking in every chateau, alp and tourist photo opportunity possible.

On The Tour the whole concept of “team” and the behaviours this inspires could not be more different than that displayed by Webber on Sunday.

A Team’s consist of 9 riders and one of which will always a designated team leader, (their number ends in”1”) and the rest of the team are rather dismissively known as “domestiques” or servants in the English vernacular. The Domestiques job is to do everything possible in their power to ensure that their team leader succeeds in their particular area of strength, whether that is sprinting, climbing or the general classification.

At the end of the Tour all prize money, even the winner’s cheque, is pooled between the team members and therefore there is perfect “goal alignment”, as they say in HR, so that the best outcome for the team is achieved. The winner has even been known to fore go his share of winnings for the domestiques benefit to ensure that he receives the best service possible.



"i know its broken but I can't let the team down!"



Examples of this team camaraderie and sportsmanship would make many other Sports envious and unfortunately put Webbers’ Sunday actions to even more shame:

1.       If your team leader has a “mechanical” or crashes, the other team riders will also stop so that they can pace the leader back to the peloton. They will even when needed give their bike to the team leader and wait for a replacement to arrive before they themselves continue.

2.       In the closing stages, riders such as HTC’s domestique, Mark Renshaw, will lead a train of team mates at breakneck speed at the front of the race and “bury” themselves with the sole aim of catapulting their team leader, Mark Cavendish, out into the bunch sprint at the last moment to win the stage.

3.       Domestiques will spend the day shuttling backwards and forwards between team cars and their team leader collecting and delivering equipment, drinks and food.

4.       Following a crash by the Astana team leader Alexendre Vinokourov on Sunday, his entire team leapt of their own bikes and clambered down a roadside gully in order to carry him back up the slope to the road where unfortunately his injuries were so severe he was forced to abandon the race.

5.       Subsequently In an amazing demonstration of sportsmanship, and conscious of such a bad accident, the whole field slowed and waited for the rescuers to rejoin them.

This un-selfish demonstration of team ethics and integrity in such a professional and tough sport should be universally admired and sadly display the petulant actions of Webber in a very dim light indeed.

Mark Webber would do well to tune in to Eurosport and maybe he may learn something from his many compatriots who are quietly achieving more credibility than he ever could.