Webber's anger at close pal Michael.

The Turkish GP was probably the most frustrating weekend that Mark Webber has endured this season. The retirement after a string of mysterious right rear tyre failures was compounded by a clash with Michael Schumacher, a man the Aussie regards as a pal, and with whom he works closely on GPDA matters.

Neither man was destined to score any points, making their clash seem even more unnecessary. Schumacher lost time with repairs to the steering and ultimately went out again only to earn himself a better qualifying starting position in Monza.

Cynics pointed to the fact that this was not the first time that Michael had closed the door on a Williams, although in Adelaide 1994 and Jerez 1997 there was rather more at stake!

"I think he was out of order in the braking area," the Aussie told Crash.net. "We have agreed not to move around in the braking area, and he started coming across. I was there, really there, and I could see his helmet. I adjusted my seatbelts and I was cruising. I thought that Michael's going to brake on the inside and we'll go round together.

"We were flat at 320kph, and then he started moving across in the braking area, which we've agreed as drivers we should not do. So then I thought, 'Stuff it,' I'll go down the inside, because I was very pissed off with him. I was there in the braking, and I tried to get back out, and he still kept coming in.

"He had his reverse lights on, both Ferrari drivers did, and I had to get through them and get with it. It's not often that they're that slow, but you're not going to sit there all week and follow them just because they're Ferraris. You've just got to get through them. It's like a Jordan - basically you've just got to get through it.

"I was disappointed with what happened in the braking area, especially as what we were racing for was nothing, and in the end it was stupid to have contact. Why should he squeeze across? Of course he'll have his view and I'll have my view, and that's how it will stay."

In the end both Williams drivers retired after double tyre failures, a scenario that left Webber extremely frustrated.

"It was one of the most disappointing retirements I've had, because it was a really good track to drive and you could overtake," he said."It wasn't the kerbs. It was something with us, and all right rears. We don't know any more at the moment. We have to find out.

"The second one was really worrying for me because I'd just passed Ralf. I'd slipped through him and he gave me room, and then I had the failure underneath him. Turn eightwas where Nick had his last failure, and both of us had problems in urn twelve, and there was one turn three."

Webber admitted that the team was lucky that the problems happened at a track which has margin for error.

"At Monza or Spa it wouldn't have been as easy," he said, "but the run-off here was quite good."