Webber caught in a web of arrogance

Maybe he was still suffering from shock after his 190mph somersaulting take-off and crash landing at the European Grand Prix, but Mark Webber's subsequent blame game is ludicrous. The Aussie reckons it was also-ran Heikki Kovalainen's fault — and that has angered team boss Mike Gascoyne who argues that the 33-year-old Red Bull charger should be the one to apologise for running into the rear end of his driver's Lotus.

It was a horror crash not matched for years in Formula One and Webber is one lucky guy to have survived it, all thanks to the advanced safety technology and materials built into Grand Prix cars these days.

Years ago, in a crash of similar circumstances, we would now have been mourning the loss of a talented driver or at least be worrying about his recovery from injury in hospital. As it is Webber escaped with a few aches and bruises, but a sore attitude.

The real pain was his aftermath opinion that Kovalainen was at fault for not getting out of his way when he wanted to overtake. How crazy...this is no-nonsense racing not fairground bumper-cars.

The Finn, like Webber, was competing — and not there to make up the numbers. It was as important for the Lotus man to get as high a place as possible as it was for Webber and was, as is his right on the same lap, defending his position and doing his best in a slower car.

The fact that Kovalainen was in a less powerful car is Webber's arrogant and unreasonable assertion for suggesting a path should have been cleared for his Red Bull. Nonsense....And Gascoyne, a well-seasoned boss in F1 agrees. He says, having aired his relief that Webber walked away unscathed: "From our point of vew Heikki was driving in a straight line, defending his position — and then Mark hits him from behind.

"So where the mistake lies is fairly clear from our standpoint. I am sure Mark will have a different view.

"Mark charged up behind Heikki. He's got the quicker car and Heikki has to brake where he brakes because of the grip he has in his car. In the end it is up to the guy overtaking to do so safely — and Mark didn't.

"If you hit somebody from behind it is not the fault of the guy in front."

Gascoyne added with a hint of cynicism and referring to Webber's crash with teammate Sebastian Vettel in Turkey: "He has now had two accidents in three races and it has never been his fault. He was under pressure last Sunday in Valencia because he was having a bad race."