Heidfeld not trying according to Webber

The first shots in what could be a war of words was fired by BMW WilliamsF1's Mark Webber at, somewhat surprisingly, team-mate Nick Heidfeld. Webber claims that Nick is not trying hard enough and that he takes the easy option during a race rather than pushing hard.

In the Australian media Mark spoke of how he felt that Nick was not trying hard enough. That he would settle for a place rather than pushing his car to fight for that extra place in the results.

Mark said: "Nick just sits there. He's happy to do that. I refuse to sit there. I'm going to try. I don't want to settle for seventh or eighth.

"I don't think I've been beaten by a teammate when I've finished, apart from last weekend. Even in the races where I've had a DNF, I've been ahead of my teammate at the time."

One wonders whether Mark's criticism of Heidfeld is based on the fact that he has yet to achieve a good result for the team, where as Nick has secured a third placed podium finish. Is this becoming a source of frustrating for the Australian, especially as Mark has made several driving errors inn races, including spinning out in Bahrain and in the last race at San Marino.

It was believed that at the Imola race Mark was far too hard on his tyres and as a result suffered with poor handling during the race, which would see him run wide on several occasions. Nick may not be beating Mark on outright pace but he does seem to be able to perform better during the races.

Will Mark's comments become a source of friction between the team-mates when the real problem is with the FW27. Even Mark's comments in the same interview points to the lack of competitiveness of the FW27.

In regard to the car Mark added: "I'm doing absolutely everything I can. The car is not at the level of some of the other teams. It's not at the level we want to be at. We can't race Renault or McLaren, and now there are a few extra boys as well. There are no silver bullets in this game. We are where we are."

Will Nick respond to these comments, I doubt it, as his performances so far this season has proven that he is aiming to achieve as good a result as possible.