Jonathan Wheatley revealed what Mark Webber did behind the scenes straight after Sebastian Vettel ‘Multi-21’ episode

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Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were involved in one of the most controversial incidents in Red Bull’s history at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. Vettel ignored team orders to pass Webber and win the race.

Vettel had started on pole but Webber, from fifth, took control of the race during the changeover from wet tyres to dry. When he emerged from his final pit stop, he was informed that he could turn his engine down because his teammate would hold position behind.

But despite being warned by race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin and team principal Christian Horner, Vettel mounted a dramatic attack on Webber and eventually got through. After he crossed the line, he was told he had some ‘explaining to do’.

Webber, who confronted Vettel in the cooldown afterwards, would leave Red Bull and retire from F1 at the end of the season. It was their fifth season together as teammates, with the German winning four world championships in that period.

Mark Webber initially refused to attend Red Bull debrief after Multi-21 incident

During an appearance on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast earlier this year, Jonathan Wheatley revisited the infamous ‘Multi-21’ episode. Wheatley was the Red Bull team manager at the time and remained with the Milton Keynes outfit until last year, when Audi signed him to head up their F1 project.

At first, Webber ‘absolutely’ refused to attend the Red Bull debrief. Wheatley felt it was his responsibility to change the Australian’s mind.

He managed to do so, though naturally it was an uncomfortable meeting. Red Bull decided not to take formal disciplinary action against Vettel.

“That meant you should finish in order – car 2, then car 1, so Multi-21,” Wheatley explained. “It ended up at Multi-12, unfortunately!

“In the aftermath, you’ve got one driver who had made a decision on track that he had to live with the rest of his life, and you had another driver that felt aggrieved.

“I can remember that Mark absolutely was not up for coming to the debrief. I thought, in my role as team manager at the time, I need to convince him to come to the debrief, because we needed to get both drivers’ side of the story, and we need to get it out in the open and dealt with before we moved on to the next event.

“I spent a bit of time with Mark, and I managed to convince him to come to the debrief. It wasn’t the most comfortable such meeting as you’d probably imagine, but it was part of the process of healing and moving forwards.”

Jonathan Wheatley explains why Sebastian Vettel changed his tune on Multi-21 incident

When Vettel arrived at the Chinese Grand Prix three weeks later, he was defiant.

Vettel had apologised to Webber on the podium, but speaking in Shanghai, he coldly said: “We were racing, I was faster, I passed him, I won.”

Wheatley insists the change of approach didn’t come from the team. Instead, it was likely the result of Vettel’s personal ruminations.

“I think he probably had to decide what his position was, didn’t he?” he said. “If there was a conversation telling him to do that, I can’t imagine how it would happen.

“I’m pretty sure he had to decide what his thought process was going into the next race, and he was very clear about it as you say.”

Kimi Raikkonen called Vettel the ‘nicest guy in F1’ in 2010, but this moment showed his ruthless side. Most of the sport’s greatest drivers have it.