Teammates? What teammates!

Last weekend saw one of the biggest events in the British sporting calender - the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The great and the good step out to be photographed and show their importance, but there is some top level sport to be played out on the race-track. And this year in particular, as an interesting quirk has been raised by the events leading up to the spectacle. What happens, when sportsmen are supposedly 'teammates' in a fundamentally individual sport, and have to foster some kind of togetherness when they (apparently) don't get on, and are competing against each other. That is the scenario which has been facing Formula One this season.
The top two teams, McClaren Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, also provide the top four drivers in the drivers' championship. If reports are to be believed, the two drivers of those respective teams are not what could reasonably be called 'buddies.' Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's latest two World champions, have found facing themselves in McClaren's paddock in recent weeks. And the situation was even more volatile at Red Bull, as simmering animosity between their stars Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel came to a head at Silverstone on Saturday and Sunday. An already tetchy situation was blown out of proportion during qualifying on Saturday. After a collision during the Turkish Grand Prix at the end of May, when Webber and Vettel were disputing the lead, Red Bull chief Christian Horner came out and blamed the Australian, even though most observers thought the German was to blame. And then, in qualifying, Red Bull made the controversial decision to replace Vettel's damaged front wing with Webber's functioning wing, after the Australian had already produced a good qualifying time. If this didn't smack of team favouritism, then I don't know what would! Vettel consequently took poll position, and Webber was understandably furious.
But this was nothing compared to the drama which took place during the actual race on the Sunday. You see, Australian's don't like being second best! It was clear there was festering animosity between the 'teammates' in a repeat of the events in Turkey, as early as the first corner. Webber and Vettel were jostling for the early leadership of the race, and in a fit of pique, it was Webber who prevailed as the German yielded and insult was added to injury as Lewis Hamilton knocked into his wheel as he ran wide, causing Vettel to puncture his rear left wheel. Webber led from start to finish, and Vettel did well to finish in seventh. This 19 point difference meant the Australian turned a 12 point deficit into a 7 point advantage, leaving him to utter an ill-advised dig at his teammate and team principal immediately after the race: 'not bad for a number two driver.' Now knowing Australians, I expect there was more than a hint of sarcasm in there. Following high profile tactical racing, notably between Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, the FIA outlawed team orders, but you can understand why Webber feels like a second class citizen as Vettel appears to be the 'golden boy'. There is no doubt Red Bull has the fastest car - but the constant in-fighting between the drivers is crippling their World Championship and is allowing McClaren to pull away.
To be fair, though, the English team has not exactly been without their difficulties. Hamilton and Button don't exactly see eye to eye. There is not exactly the drama that has been unfolding in (and out) of the Red Bull Paddock, but it hasn't been far short. Let's look at the facts - these are the last two World Champions, so neither is going to want to give an inch, and they both have huge egos. They are also numbers one and two in the World Championship standings, so neither is likely to go for a beer anytime soon!
All of this raises a pertinent point - how hard (or easy) is it for competitors in predominantly individual sports, as Formula One invariably is, to embrace the whole concept of a team ethos. This is often the case in athletics. Obviously, everyone races under the banner of the nation you are representing. But if you compete against your compatriots in individual events, it is every man for himself. Do you think Justin Gatlin was especially disappointed when his American teammate Tim Montgomery failed a drugs test for performance enhancing drugs in 2005? It didn't matter, because Gatlin himself failed a test just a year later, but you get the idea.
You get similar examples in sports such as golf and tennis. Both are mainly individual sports, but every now and again, there are chances to form part of a team - for example, the Ryder Cup and Davis Cup respectfully. It must be hard for players of the calibre of Roger Federer and Andy Murray to go off and represent their countries in the Davis Cup, knowing that for their nations to have any chance of progressing, they will need to win both their singles rubbers, and maybe a doubles encounter with a partner as well.
The form of Tiger Woods in the Ryder Cup is one of those interesting quirks of fate that sport throws up. In five Ryder Cup appearances, he has only scored at most three points, despite always playing five ties. Well, he is one of the golfers to pick up a club in history! So it's surely no coincidence that in 2008, when he was absent due to injury, USA shot to their biggest victory in the event since 1981. He is said to have a surly personality and a divisive influence in the American team. This is unlikely to change following the events of the last year or so. This is ideal for the individual aspect of golf, but not so much when you find yourself in a team situation.
Football is another sport which escapes the subject of split loyalties. When you train and play with the same players, day in day out, for ten months of the year, it must be slightly strange to come up against these very same players on the international stage. And on the flip side, when international sides meet up, players are suddenly teammates with men who's teams they have been battling with the previous season, and who they have been trained to hate. A case in point is the Spanish National Team - ten of the eleven players who started the final represent either Barcelona or Real Madrid, and no you can't get bigger enemies than that!
I think athletes are more proficient at compartmentalising and focusing than anyone else. Sport is played as much in the mind as it is via the body, so they have to be. You don't have to like those alongside you to succeed or form a successful partnership. Just ask former Manchester United strikers Andrew Cole and Teddy Sheringham, who famously were barely on speaking terms as their team won a historic treble in 1999. Both Webber and Vettel would do best to keep their disagreements behind closed doors, and let their actions do the talking on the race-track. And preferably without knocking each other out of contention, or McClaren's inferior car will continue to pull away at the head of the pack.