• Lifeline for Buemi after being discarded by Toro Rosso
• Swiss driver appointed test and reserve driver at Red Bull

Red Bull Racing have thrown a Formula One lifeline to Switzerland’s Sébastien Buemi by appointing him as their test and reserve driver after he was discarded as a race driver by their sister team Toro Rosso.

The 23-year-old will attend grands prix as back-up for the double world champion Sebastian Vettel and the Australian Mark Webber and will also be available to Toro Rosso should they need a stand-in.

“It’s good to remain with Red Bull for another year and have this opportunity with the World Championship winning team,” Buemi said.

“I would prefer to be driving at the races, of course, but working with Red Bull Racing on the development of their car and providing them with feedback throughout the season is the next best thing.”

Buemi has been backed by Red Bull since 2004 and made his race debut in 2009 with the Italian-based Toro Rosso, who will have an all-new line-up next year.

The Red Bull team boss, Christian Horner, said: “He already knows the team well from his time with us in 2008 and has gained significant race experience over the past three years..

“He will complete important test and simulation work for us throughout the year and will be in attendance at each grand prix.”

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• Australian sets the pace at rain-hit Spa-Francorchamps
• Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton third and fourth

Mark Webber took the honours in another rain-hit practice session for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

In the initial 90 minutes only the Mercedes pair of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg were able to set times before the capricious nature of the region’s weather took hold.

The afternoon was a different story as the field enjoyed 55 minutes of relatively dry running at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit prior to the heavens opening again.

Although it eased off and a number of cars returned to the track, the majority settled for their dry times which were never going to be troubled.

Come the conclusion, Webber sat at the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1min 50.321sec, 0.140sec clear of the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

Such times, however, were over four seconds off Webber’s pole lap of last year, clearly indicating all the top teams have more in their locker.

The McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were half a second adrift in third and fourth, both Britons managing only nine laps.

Hamilton left it fashionably late before making his entrance, with his best time set on his only lap on the faster soft tyres moments before the rain came down.

Further adrift but still within a second of Webber were Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Rosberg before a gap of almost 0.4sec to Sauber’s Sergio Perez.

Behind the Mexican were the Force India pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, the former in the car to the annoyance of Adrian Sutil. Ordinarily reserve drivers take part in first practice, however, on this occasion Force India opted to reverse the order, leaving Sutil on the sidelines in the afternoon.

That meant the German missed the only true dry running of the day to which he said: “It is not good for the performance to not be in the car. It’s a bit disappointing what the team has done because it’s not good for the success. It was the only dry session we had and I missed it.”

The reigning world champion and current championship leader Sebastian Vettel was forced to settle for 10th spot, 1.469sec behind Webber, with Schumacher 11th.

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• Webber ignored instructions during British Grand Prix
• Australian says he has had ‘positive’ talks over new deal

Mark Webber has insisted Sunday’s team orders saga will have no bearing on his future as he is already in “positive” talks with Red Bull regarding a new contract.

Webber ignored repeated instructions to maintain a gap to team-mate Sebastian Vettel over the closing laps of the British Grand Prix, prompting showdown talks with the team principal, Christian Horner. The situation raised speculation as to whether Webber would remain with the team, only for the owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, to yesterday state the 34-year-old Australian would be signed again for 2012.

As far as Webber is concerned, he told BBC Sport: “The team and I are talking about whether I continue with Red Bull in 2012 and it’s positive. What happened on Sunday does not turn my world upside down.”

Webber, who was forced to settle for third behind Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at Silverstone, says he has cleared the air with Horner and has no regrets over his course of action.

“Christian and I had a chat about the situation after the race,” said Webber. “We both put our cases forward and I think we came away seeing it from both perspectives. It was obviously a difficult situation, but I still feel comfortable about what I did.

“In that situation, you are hit by conflicting emotions. You want to improve your position, irrespective of who it is in front of you – especially when it is someone at Sebastian’s level, whom you have to work pretty hard to get back on to.”

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• Red Bull’s new front wing has come under scrutiny
• ‘You should never penalise things that are ingenious’

Mark Webber has told his rivals to stop trying to find fault with Red Bull and concentrate on resolving their own issues.

Red Bull’s latest front wing design concept has come under considerable scrutiny due to its flexibility at high speed, when it is supposed to remain static. Ferrari have also developed their own version and both have passed FIA tests, but although no team has lodged a formal protest there have been plenty of complaints.

The FIA tests will be improved ahead of the Belgian grand prix after the Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn claimed they are “not correct”. But after Red Bull’s innovative exhaust blown diffuser was also frowned upon before rivals caught up last season, championship leader Webber feels the criticism is all a lot of hot air.

“Our guys have broken their balls to design a car in the spirit of the regulations, and every time we are tested by the FIA, we pass,” said Webber. “The car has always been passed by the FIA, so when people don’t like what they see on the stopwatch, they have to justify their own positions sometimes. When there’s pressure on people to perform and they’re getting destroyed, that’s how it is.

“Some teams have done certain things, other teams have done other things. McLaren incorporated the F-duct, which is a sensational idea. We’ve turned the world upside down to try and do that which is not without resource difficulties, but that’s Formula One.

“We’re more than happy with what we have on the car, and we’re sleeping well at night. You should never penalise things that are ingenious, and people who are doing a good job, and that’s sometimes the case. There’s always something new to bring out of the cupboard.”

Webber feels if the critics want to harp on about parity, then Red Bull should be allowed to equalise their engines in line with other teams. At present the Renault powerplant is down on horsepower compared to the likes of Mercedes, as used by the German manufacturer, McLaren and Force India.

“We’ve been looking for engine parity for the last few years because we know we don’t have the most powerful engine,” he said. “When we go to a track where there are not many straights, the car is good because we’ve had to try incredibly hard to get the car performing on those circuits.

“Other teams sometimes want everything, but we need parity on the engine and then it would be a fair game. That’s all we want, similar horsepower to other teams. It’s not a one-way street with this stuff you know.”

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• Fernando Alonso is second fastest for Ferrari
• Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button both off the pace

Mark Webber dominated the second practice session of the British grand prix here, with the Australian posting the fastest time of the day ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull team-mate, Sebastian Vettel.

On a day when Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button both struggled in their McLarens, Webber, who is 24 points behind championship leader Hamilton, placed the memory of his crash in last month’s Valencia grand prix behind him. With Vettel in third there appears a real prospect of Red Bull repeating last year’s 1-2 finish here.

Webber, who clocked a time of 1min 31.234sec around the new-look Silverstone circuit, said: “It was a pretty good day apart from the electrical problem at the end, which was a shame – we lost a few laps.” The 33-year-old lost around 15 minutes of the session due to the malfunction but Webber has confidence in his Red Bull ahead of qualifying.

“The car seems to be going pretty well here. I think a few of the other teams were sandbagging a bit [purposefully going slow], but we’re happy with our programme and looking forward to qualifying. The new section of the track is pretty difficult, but it’s a good challenge.”

Vettel, who like Webber benefited from a switch to softer tyres, is ahead of his team-mate in third in the championship with 115 points, 12 behind Hamilton. He said: “The sessions were OK today – in the afternoon we had a bit of a spin and flat-spotted a set of hard tyres. We also had a problem with the brake pedal but nothing big. The pace of the car was good.

“The new section of the track is quite low speed, but it’s not as slow as we expected and doesn’t kill the rhythm. It adds something new and makes it more of a challenge. The track here is magnificent, it’s good fun, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Alonso, meanwhile, was content but insistent that Ferrari had to improve. “It’s been a pretty good Friday but we know we have to improve the car,” he said. “The Red Bulls are a lot quicker than us at the moment, so we’ll try to get as close as possible tomorrow to have a good Saturday.”

The Spaniard also feels there is more to come from the McLarens. “It will be very close tomorrow. We saw at Valencia too that McLaren on Friday was far back in the second session and then on Saturday Hamilton was in front of us and Button right behind. I think it will be similar, with three or four teams fighting for positions and let’s hope we are a bit in front of them.”

One driver not at Silverstone this weekend is Bruno Senna, the nephew of three-time champion Ayrton, though his HRT F1 team said last night that the Brazilian will get the drive for the rest of the season.

Senna has been replaced here by Sakon Yamamoto, possibly because the Japanese driver has greater financial backing, and a statement from Hispania said: “In respect to the rumours about Bruno Senna’s current [status] with Hispania, the team wants to confirm that he has all the support, that he remains one of [our] official drivers and he will be continuing to drive the remaining races.”

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• ‘Would I go for a drink with Sebastian Vettel? Definitely not’
• ‘We don’t want the German anthem played in Hockenheim’

Mark Webber was in a fighting mood after his victory in the British grand prix at Silverstone yesterday, describing his dominance in the race over his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel as “an Australian response, a little upper cut”, adding: “You do your talking on the track.”

The rivalry between the Australian, who has been with Red Bull Racing since 2007 and his German fellow driver, who joined the team in 2009, has intensified this season, with Webber criticising the team management for a perceived preference towards Vettel. Webber said prior to yesterday’s race that he would not have signed a contract extension at Red Bull had he known Vettel would get preferential treatment, although the team have denied that Webber is their No2 driver.

Asked if he stood by his comments, Webber said yesterday: “Absolutely. I said after the race that the team was put in a unique situation. It was the first time that had happened. I really find it hard to believe that will happen again because the team don’t operate like that. That’s why I have signed, because they normally don’t operate like that.

“I was a bit disappointed how Saturday went. I am more than happy with where I am next year once we have some discussions this week. I’m sure everything will be fine. When you have two pretty driven individuals like the two drivers they have that obviously takes some controlling. It’s a good problem to have in many ways.”

Webber was asked after his victory at Silverstone whether he would go for a drink with his team-mate, who came in seventh. “Definitely not,” the Australian replied. “I’d say it’s a healthy rivalry. I suppose we can relate it to a State of Origin situation. Once you cross that line it’s all about what you’ve got to go and do.

“After the match you might catch up a bit. It’s as good as it can be in the situation. There have been a lot of team-mates over the years at this level who don’t see eye to eye and that comes with the territory. But if Seb was in the ocean and he was struggling, he was drowning, I would be out here having a crack at saving him. It’s not that you actually hate each other’s guts. It’s just that he’s one of your rivals, you want to beat him and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

The Australian’s victory for the Milton Keynes-based team yesterday disappointed the crowds, who were keen for a British win, but Webber was pleased with his first place on the podium at the track where Vettel took the flag last year. He said: “I had a good start against Seb and got on the inside and took care of business from there. To win especially the British grand prix, it’s a real blue ribband event. OK, it’s not Monaco, but it’s not a million miles away.

“They’ve been racing there for 60 years at the same track. It’s really the Lord’s of motor racing in terms of the real history of the event. It was a special race to win after Monaco. It was nice to do it having led every lap.”

Looking ahead to the next race of the season, on 25 July in Hockenheim, Webber added: “We don’t want the German national anthem played in Germany. We know that. We’ll do what we can.”

The McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh believes the fallout at Red Bull will prove to be a distraction within the team, which could benefit the British duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

“You have to think carefully about decisions,” Whitmarsh said. “Drivers are immensely competitive people, so if they perceive something is not even-handed or fair, then you are going to have some trouble. There is always a potential tension with two drivers in the same team fighting for a championship.

“We’ve experienced that a few times, it’s difficult, but I have to say that so far I think we are in reasonable shape in that regard. But I think if your drivers aren’t working together then it is one more distraction you could do without.”

“We have to concentrate on our situation,” Whitmarsh added. “A lot of people speculated on the relationship between our two drivers, and the fact is it hasn’t been a news story yet, although people tried to make it one. I hope there are cracks and divisions in all our competitors and they all fall apart, but I am not going to rely on it. We have to make our car quicker and try and win the championships that way.”

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• Team principal holds musical evening at his home
• Webber unhappy with Vettel’s perceived No1 status

The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, orchestrated a musical evening at his Northamptonshire home in an attempt to bring harmony to his feuding drivers, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Webber sang the famous Bryan Adams number Summer of ’69 and Vettel picked up his guitar and strummed Deep Purple’s Smoke On Water. Then, to prove that both drivers could sing from the same hymn sheet, everyone at the party joined together for the Don McLean classic American Pie.

“We haven’t been offered any recording contracts and the neighbours will probably be complaining about the noise but everyone here let their hair down and celebrated the fact that we had just won the British grand prix and our 11th race in 88 attempts,” said Horner.

Webber won yesterday’s race, his third victory of the season, but the win was overshadowed by anger after being asked to give up his new front wing and give it to Vettel, who had damaged his own car. Vettel duly won pole position, with Webber in second place. But Webber closed his German rival down by the first corner and charged on to victory.

When he crossed the line Horner said: “Well done, Mark. You’ve won the British grand prix.” A bitter Webber retorted: “Thanks guys – not bad for a No 2 driver.” Webber said later he would not have signed his new contract with Red Bull for next year if he had known “that was the way it was going to be”.

After the race Webber’s mechanics reportedly gloated in the direction of Vettel’s men, brandishing the old front wing the Australian had been forced to use.

The relationship between the two drivers had taken a turn for the worse, quite literally, in Turkey six weeks ago when they crashed into each other when first and second. Most experts blamed Vettel for the collision but the Red Bull boss, Helmut Marko, who has guided the German’s career since childhood, blamed Webber, infuriating the older driver.

It was reported that Horner and Webber would meet today but those clear-the-air talks did not take place. “We will sit down in the next week and have a chat,” said Horner, who in the meantime is hoping that the music at his post-race barbecue might have soothed the evident rift between the Red Bull pair.

“I have always had a good relationship with Mark since the day he beat one of my cars in a support race at Silverstone in 2000,” said Horner. “I can understand emotions running high in an intense battle with your team-mate but the bottom line is he won the British grand prix with an excellent drive.

“He was flawless, he had a better start than his team-mate and that was the difference between the two of them. It’s actually a positive for the team to have two guys who are pushing each other so hard.”

Privately, though, Red Bull have been angered by Webber’s comments and will remind the driver this week that the team is bigger than any individual. Webber, though, is not changing his views. In an interview in Australia today, when asked whether he would have a beer with Vettel after a race, he replied: “Definitely not.” And when asked about the next grand prix in Hockenheim he said: “We don’t want the German national anthem played in Germany. We know that, mate.”

McLaren, meanwhile, are revelling in Red Bull’s difficulties. “I hope there are cracks and divisions in all our competitors and they all fall apart but I am not going to rely on it,” said the team principal, Martin Whitmarsh.

And drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button joined in. Hamilton said: “It’s not nice” while Button added: “It hurts mentally not to be given the same car as your team-mate.”Ends

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• British grand prix winner says ‘respect runs deep’
• Silverstone comment was ‘Australian sarcasm’

Mark Webber has cleared the air with Red Bull after protesting over his team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s preferential treatment at last weekend’s British grand prix.

The Australian was heard saying “not bad for a number two” after he won the race at Silverstone. He later said he would not have signed a new contract had he thought he would be treated as such.

A day earlier, he sat stony-faced next to Vettel after the team took a new-design front wing off his car and gave it to the German, who qualified on pole position.

In a statement on his website, www.markwebber.com, under the heading “Respect runs deep at Red Bull”, Webber said the matter had been resolved.

“Obviously I can see why a team may at certain points have to favour a driver with more points in the championship, if there are only enough resources to fully support one of us,” he said. “We’ve already debriefed the race weekend at the factory and have cleared the air.

“It’s now understood that, should we face this unlikely dilemma again, preference will go to the championship points leader.”

Vettel was ahead in the drivers’ championship going into Silverstone but Webber’s win there lifted him in front of the German.

“Of course things get said in the heat of the moment which, with hindsight goggles on, shouldn’t have been said,” the Australian continued. “My comment on the radio after the race was an example of Australian sarcasm … either at its best or worst, depending on how you choose to take it.”

Webber pointed out that he and the Red Bull principal, Christian Horner, were friends who had known each other for years and once ran a GP3 team together.

“The respect within the team extends to the drivers,” said Webber, whose relationship with Vettel has been under close scrutiny since they collided while running first and second in Turkey in May.

“I know I have a very good driver as a team-mate and I wouldn’t want it any other way … Seb and I are not enemies, we’re just two drivers that are pushing hard and want to do the best for ourselves and the team.”

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