To obey or not to obey?

At the legendary Imola circuit in 1982, Ferrari were gifted victory. A boycott of the San Marino Grand Prix by the majority of the FOCA aligned teams - including McLaren, Lotus, Williams and Brabham - meant that just 14 cars would take the start, and the dominant Renaults both suffered mechanical problems.

With the race in the bag, Ferrari ordered its drivers, Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi, to slow down and preserve their cars; Villeneuve believed this also implied an instruction to not overtake. When Pironi did so on the final lap, taking victory as a result, Villeneuve was so incensed that he vowed to never speak to his teammate again. Two weeks later, at Zolder, he suffered a fatal accident whilst trying to better Pironi's qualifying time.

21 years later, a similar situation unfolded at Sepang. Red Bull issued the 'Multi 21' instruction to Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, ordering their drivers to go into car preservation mode and bring the cars home in their current order - car 2 ahead of car 1, hence '21'. Had the situation been reversed, the order would have been 'Multi 12'.

Vettel had other ideas, however. On a day when Fernando Alonso ended his race in the gravel, the reigning champion simply couldn't resist the temptation to  ignore his team's wishes and seize the opportunity before him to win. In doing so, Vettel revealed a steely, ruthless determination to succeed at any cost that is reminiscent of his compatriot Michael Schumacher before him.

Some would argue it's exactly that which makes him one of the greatest drivers in the sport and sets him apart from the likes of Webber, who had turned down his engine in response to the team's instruction and thus left himself completely exposed to attack. The fact remains however that, just like Pironi did to Villeneuve all those years ago, Vettel stabbed his visibly enraged teammate in the back.

Relations have always been frosty between the Red Bull teammates since their infamous clash at Istanbul back in 2010. But this newly opened divide could come to cost the team one or both titles this season if not swiftly healed. The trouble is that Vettel, as Malaysia proved, is now a law unto himself. Team principal Christian Horner didn't even attempt instruct Vettel to fall back behind Webber after the pass was made, as if he felt powerless to overrule his driver's decision.

Similarly, a disillusioned Webber can no longer be counted upon to obey team instructions, or indeed to support his teammate's title bid. That's not a problem Alonso is going to face at Ferrari, as the Scuderia operate a transparent policy of having a clear number one driver and a subservient teammate, which, providing the latter is happy to play second fiddle, works well.

Red Bull, on the other hand, maintain a pretence of driver equality, whilst discreetly favouring Vettel, who is a product of Helmut Marko's Red Bull Junior Team and has enjoyed the team's backing and support since the very early days of his career. Marko groomed Vettel to become world champion, and during the past three years Red Bull have reaped the rewards.

It should come as little surprise that, with so much nurturing and protection throughout his career, Vettel feels entitled to be the team's number one. That's clearly not compatible with the philosophy of driver equality that Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz claims to subscribe to, and it's Marko's clandestine favouritism towards Vettel that is at the root of his decision to ignore 'Multi 21' and Webber's subsequent frustration.

Mateschitz needs to have a long, hard think about the way his team is run. How will Horner re-gain his authority, which has been so badly undermined by the Marko-Vettel alliance? Horner needs to re-establish himself as the one in charge, and it could be argued that Vettel should have been dealt some kind of punishment to prevent a similar situation recurring later in the year.

Where does all of this leave Webber? It should be noted that, at the point at which Vettel took the lead around the outside at turn 4, the Aussie could have followed the racing line and forced his teammate off the road, sending a firm signal to Vettel. The fact he chose not to do so, and failed to give chase thereafter, unwittingly affirmed his number two status within the team.

At 36, Webber is the elder statesmen of the grid, and if retirement wasn't on his mind before, it must surely be now. Webber is only in it to win it; that's why he turned down an offer last year to join Ferrari, where he would have had to give best to Alonso. If Red Bull is Vettel's team, which events last weekend suggest it very much is, what chance does Webber have of winning whilst remaining at Milton Keynes?

Outside of Red Bull, Webber's options as far as competitive seats are concerned appear limited. Ferrari would probably still have him, and you could argue that a season of being number two to Alonso is far from a bad way to round off one's F1 career. Lotus may be able to find space for him in their line-up, with Kimi Raikkonen having given scant indication of whether he wishes to continue into 2014, but how long their strong form will continue is uncertain.

Webber may therefore calculate that he is best off remaining at Red Bull - if nothing else, he can be fairly certain of having a competitive car. But, if the team cannot issue orders (at least with any optimism that they will be followed) while Vettel and Webber both remain on board, it follows that one - almost certainly the latter - will have to give way. If this is the case, it may well be that Webber feels the time is right to hang up his helmet.

As for Vettel, he may be seven crucial points further up on Alonso and the rest of his adversaries than he may have been, but at the expense of his honour. Just as the legacies of Ayrton Senna and Schumacher will always be tainted because of the choices they made in the relentless pursuit of victory, Vettel runs the risk of having the same asterisk placed by his name.

There's no denying Vettel is a stickler for statistics, but what he seemingly fails to realise is how you win is just as important as whether you do so. His obvious lack of respect for Webber, whom he dismissed as "too slow" during the race, is a far cry from the likes of Peter Collins and Stirling Moss, who sacrificed their chances of winning titles in the name of sportsmanship and are revered all the more for it.

Perhaps the hardest thing of all to swallow was the false 'apology' that followed. In many ways, it would have been better to see Vettel unapologetic for his actions, much like Schumacher was following some of his more controversial stunts. Instead, it appears the sport's youngest ever champion is more concerned about maintaining his easy-going, good-humoured façade than being honest to the public.

Vettel is unquestionably one of the most talented drivers the sport has seen in recent years, and perhaps it's his insatiable desire to win that makes him so. I can't help but feel however that, had Alonso or Lewis Hamilton been in a similar situation, they would have taken the honourable option - both appear to have considerable respect, even affection, for their respective teammates.

Vettel on the other hand has chosen, at least for now, just like Senna and Schumacher before him, the 'win at all costs' path. He may well enjoy more success because of it, but ironically at the expense of the likeable persona he seems so intent on preserving.