Teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were left blaming the other as they watched McLaren score a one-two at the Turkish Grand Prix.
Red Bull Racing was in a commanding position when, on the 41st lap, Vettel made a move on Webber. Webber held his line, but didn’t anticipate what happened next. Vettel darted to the right before he was past, ramming his sidepod into Webber’s left-front wheel.
Vettel’s car flapped like a fish as it ripped off its front wing and punctured its right-rear tire.
Vettel was pitched into an anti-clockwise spin and into retirement. He sprang angrily from the cockpit and made the international sign for “crazy.”
Webber, who had led for the entire 40 laps to that point, recovered for third behind Jenson Button as Red Bull’s pit-lane team looked on in astonishment.
The McLaren team also tensed up near the end as its drivers exchanged the lead but Lewis Hamilton eventually earned his first win of the season, edging teammate Jenson Button by 2.6 seconds after rain had sprinkled the circuit.
“It was quite an exciting race,” said Hamilton, the 2008 champion.
