The true meaning of 'Multi-21'

"DasWauto" (DasWauto) 04/19/2016 at 19:00 • Filed to: Formula 1

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I’ve just picked up Mark Webber’s book ‘Aussie Grit: My formula one journey’ and not even one chapter in an interesting tidbit has emerged. The infamous ‘multi-21 message relayed to Seb Vettel and Mark at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix referred to the intended finishing order, not an engine map/power setting as commonly thought*.

To be more specific, the ‘21' ordered car 2 (Webber) to finish ahead of car 1 (Vettel). I suspect the ‘multi’ merely meant to obfuscate that purpose, to great effect. An order of ‘multi-12', which Mark describes as the more common version of this communication, would then reffer to Vettel finishing in front.

Sebastian would of course go on to ignore that order, much to the chagrin of Webber. It’s a move he described as ‘the final straw in [his] frustrations with Red Bull’s management’.

This is going to be an interesting read.

*in my experience

Hot Takes Salesman > DasWauto 04/19/2016 at 19:13

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Is it well written? And I think he wrote it before Porsche, so I don't know if I'm interested

DasWauto > Hot Takes Salesman 04/19/2016 at 19:35

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A bit early for me to judge, I’m afraid. I only read the foreword (by Sir Jackie) and a prologue chapter so far. While eloquent enough, there were points of that chapter I wish he’d elaborated on. That said, it is only a prologue meant to wet the appetite and it did accomplish that.

I think he wrote it in 2014 and maybe early 2015. It was published October ‘15, I believe, so he would have been at Porsche for at least part of the writing and Jackie does mention it in the foreword. The focus is definitely on his F1 career though, as the title states.

I’ll read a chapter or two tonight and report back.

DasWauto > Hot Takes Salesman 04/19/2016 at 22:52

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Didn’t have as much time as anticipated but I did knock out a chapter just now. It’s still got an every so slightly incohesive, like the prologue, It’s written well enough to hold my attention. Unlike some other books, I’ll finish this one pretty quickly.

To give you a bit more detail about what the book covers I had a quick look at the chapter titles. Just under half of the book details his early life, growing interest in motorsport and rise through karts and junior series. A full half of the book then follows his F1 career and the last chapter and epilogue speak to what comes after.

Personally, my interest lies mostly in a behind the scenes look at F1 and the intra-team politics that happened at RBR during Mark’s time there. I feel he’s not one to mince words and I look forward to reading his side of those stories.