Mo-Nercy

I can't believe the crap I'm reading on the F1 forums/websites I frequent. Almost everyone seems to be of the opinion that Red Bull should:
a) promote Vettel to the status of "number 1 driver" and back him to win
b) let their two drivers race it out

Either option would be stupid and it would be practically giving the driver's title to Alonso. Vettel is on 206 points, compared to Webber's 220 and Alonso's 231. With only 50 points left to go to the winners of the last two races, supporting Vettel would be a massive risk. You'd have to pretty much cross your fingers and hope Alonso crashes out or doesn't finish in the points (neither is very likely given his ability). Sitting on the fence and not giving out equal status to either is equally daft. The team would then run the risk of having their drivers take valuable points from each other and letting Alonso cruise to the silverware. This is same mistake McLaren made in 2007 to let Kimi Raikkonen win his one and only F1 title. Red Bull seriously can not entertain the notion of being the laughing stock of F1 only 3 years after the perfect case study of what not to do was demonstrated for the world to behold.

I'm just going to paste something I just posted in reply to someone who said the team should support Vettel on one of the aforementioned websites I visit.

@manu : Whilst what you've said is true, remember that Webber had outclassed Vettel and the rest of the field for a handful of races mid-season. Those 14 points he had over Vettel and Alonso prior to Korea weren't there by sheer coincidence and luck. Yes, okay, a bit of luck, but any victor of a closely fought world championship can attribute some luck to their success. My point is that Webber had earned that advantage. Never mind that Vettel wasn't at his best at the time, that's not his problem. Nor should it be the team's. You can't expect Red Bull to say "oh well, Vettel's better than you on paper, so we'll back him." All Mark Webber would hear out of that is "well, you might as well have not tried to win at all." If, at Interlagos, Vettel led Webber to a 1-2 Red Bull finish with Alonso in third (which, you'd agree isn't an impossibility at all). Vettel would still be 15 points behind Alonso with a race to go, which would be hard to pull back with a single race left. Webber would be 8 points behind, meaning the gap between 1st and 2nd wouldn't be enough to give him the title. Both drivers would thus be at a huge disadvantage going in Abu Dhabi following such a result. If Red Bull wants one of theirs to win the title, they need to back Webber. End of story. This isn't the time to be using Vettel's speed as an excuse to sit on the fence and let the two race it out. They need to make the decision to back Webber, and frankly, they should've done it before now.

I don't think I'm being overly patriotic here. Yes, I'd much rather see Mark Webber lift the trophy than any of the other contenders, but my opinion boils down to simple mathematics. It doesn't matter now that Sebastian Vettel is a better overall driver and that Mark Webber's been lucky with his points finishes. What matters is that Webber drove better than Vettel when it counted and earned a points advantage over him that he still holds right now. Red Bull can't afford to do option (a) or (b) just because Vettel's been unlucky and has suddenly decided to start driving well in the last few races.

If Webber wins the last two races and Alonso finishes 2nd in both, it would be a 14 point turnaround and Red Bull would have their first driver's champion.

If Vettel wins the last two races and Alonso finishes 2nd in both, Alonso would still claim his third driver's title by a single point. Yeah, yeah fairytale finish and all that , but it'd go down in history just like Raikkonen's 2007 championship - the other team pussyfooted around too much and handed it to him on a silver platter.