A Brief Look Back At The "Multi Map 21" Controversy In 2013

At The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel Was Told by His Team, Red Bull To Stay Behind His Teammate Mark Webber. The 3x World Champion (As He Was At The Time) Overtook Him Anyway Which Caused Controversy. But Why?

Vettel's teammate, Webber said that Sebastian would "have protection as usual" which implies that he knew that the team was now favouring one driver over another.

Sure that's bad, but why did it become controversial?

In truth, one of the main reasons why this was controversial was because Vettel initially issued a statement that as far as Mark was concerned, wasn't to "far from the money", meaning that the relationship between to the two title challengers could have been resolved but then two weeks later Vettel changed his statement. 

He then said that he would have considered the orders of the team and "would have done the same thing." This contradicted his previous opinion which was that he himself "messed up", calling his decision a "mistake."

After this incident many believed it to be an act of revenge from Vettel after only months previous when he was battling Fernando Alonso for the championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mark Webber (no longer fighting for the championship at this point) deliberately held up his teammate and didn't seem to defend from Alonso as aggressively as he probably should have done. Why was this? Well, Vettel and Webber were never truly close, however, Webber and Alonso were both going for the same goal of beating Vettel which many thought brought them closer.

At the end of 2013 Sebastian Vettel claimed his 4th consecutive World Championship.               Mark Webber retired from Red Bull Racing and Formula 1... For good.