Mark Webber quotes from The Clare Balding Show, BT Sport 1‏

Catch the full interview in full tomorrow (Saturday 7th December) at 9pm on BT Sport 1

On offers

“Teams like Lotus and Ferrari and even Redbull to a degree, once they couldn’t get Kimi, were back on the radar so to speak.”

Ferrari

“I had a Ferrari contract yes, but we didn’t get enough momentum at the time, I was at the Canadian Grand Prix 2012, I made a decision, I was in the hotel room, my gut was no I’m not going to do it.”

“People around me were keen for it to happen, but I was, no I can’t. F1 teams have 500 people, but to go and learn 500 people and learn the new scenario, it takes time, when you’re 22 you’re running through walls, but when you’re 36/37.”

On Vettell

“We’ve had some tough moments, as competitors at that level, as team mates its notorious that guys in the same team that want the same turf, particularly when I was very competitive against him, 2009/20010 it was a very tight battle. The last few years Seb’s been stronger, done a very good job and off he’s gone, and I’ve not been not quite where I was. Those types of things can put strain on relationships and put strain on other peoples positions within the team.

“The future has been Sebastian, they want to keep him happy as much as they can”

“I have no desire to come back to the sport.”

“We do end up getting each other’s Christmas Cards each year, which is quite bizarre, but they’re not sincere”

On not being treated as he would have liked within the team and whether that is why he retired

“There were questions like that, and you didn’t want to feel those questions week in week out.”

“Things come onto the radar and you think this is probably not how I would like it, so it does go into the decision yes.”

On the British Grand Prix

“It is one of the best races in the world to win, the British Grand Prix is so special for all the drivers, the fans are awesome, they’re just so knowledgeable about our sport.”

Is there a danger of the sport becoming dull

“I think in any sport, it’s our nature, we like to see a contest. So unfortunately for the neutral, let’s say, which is the worst case, because they’re the ones you’re going to have trouble keeping potentially. If you’re a massive massive Seb fan then you are probably going to watch every Grand Prix. It’s very, very rare, it was ‘56 or ‘58 the last time that someone won that many races in a row. So hopefully for the sport that won’t happen again for a while, for the neutral. And next year I think there will be some different winners. Red Bull are still the favourites, but I think there will be a bit of a mix up.”

On making friends in F1

“It’s hard for us to get that close. Unfortunately we’re pretty intense, you’re so focused on yourself and are super selfish and you’re not interested in relationships.” “It’s disappointing actually, it wasn’t like that in Jackie’s era, it was more of a friendly environment outside the car.” “Jenson, we’ve got a lot of interests in similar” “Rubens Barichello was a down to earth normal guy.”


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