Webber, Alonso, Vettel scoff at ’dinner photo’ news

Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and even Sebastian Vettel were all busy in Bahrain playing down the "dinner with friends" photo posted on Twitter this week.

The photo was posted by Ferrari’s Spaniard Alonso but then deleted, but not before Red Bull’s Webber ’retweeted’ it.

It depicted Alonso and Webber out for dinner in Dubai, which excited some sections of the media who thought it a deliberate jibe at their common enemy, Vettel.

Vettel insisted he failed to see the significance.

"Were they naked?" he asked reporters mischievously. "We all need to eat, but I would rather than I was not there."

Webber, at the centre of sabotage rumours and claims he might quit F1 for Porsche next year, accused the media of "paranoia".

"I have known Fernando for 13 years," he said. "Many drivers catch up socially. I may meet up here with Jenson (Button). And why shouldn’t I?

"We have social lives too!

"If that’s the biggest subject, you guys (reporters) are in trouble to be honest."

Alonso also pointed a finger at the overactive minds of journalists.

"In Spain we say ’The thief thinks everyone is a thief’," he said.

"If I see a photo of someone having dinner I think he’s having dinner.

"But when I put it on Twitter, all the replies were about Vettel and stuff like that. Those are conspiracy theorists," the Ferrari driver added.

"The truth is that Mark and I have known each other for 13 years and we have the same manager. We talked about cycling, not F1."

Still, the ’Multi-21’ affair rolls on. German motor racing chief Hans-Joachim Stuck said he thinks the relationship between Vettel and Vettel is now close to untenable.

"If Webber gets the chance to wipe Vettel out, I can imagine him doing so," he is quoted by SID news agency.

"A fight like that is not what is needed. Teammates need to challenge each other, but it has to be fair and friendly," added Stuck.

Meanwhile, Webber categorically denied rumours he has already decided to quit F1 for Le Mans in 2014.

"You can ask anybody in my camp if we know what I am doing next year — we don’t!" he is quoted by F1’s official website.