Red Bull's Mark Webber has said that he and his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, are "still free to race" despite the Australian being ordered to stay behind Vettel in the last laps of the British Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Team orders were made legal again in Formula One this year and the incident at Silverstone was the first time they have come into play this season. Immediately afterwards Webber said he had ignored instructions and continued to try to pass Vettel. "I ignored the team because I wanted to try to get a place," he said.

However, during preparations here for the German Grand Prix Webber clarified his position, saying he had spoken to the team principal, Christian Horner. "I put my case forward in how the situation built and we thought that we were both making the right decision – him to make the call for the team's interest and I was in a situation where I was trying to improve my own position," Webber said.

"We spoke about it, he guaranteed me that it would have been the same situation the other way around. If Seb was closing in on me, he would have still shut the race down."

The driver also said that with hindsight the position of the race had been difficult for the team – "It is not often that you are closing in the last few laps, that was the awkward one I think" – and that it had been the specific circumstance that had dictated the orders: "We are still free to race most of the time. It was an awkward one and it is not often that things like that happen in terms of the time of the race, and up until then we will be racing."

Horner has previously stated that his team would not prevent their drivers from racing, specifically after the German Grand Prix last year when Ferrari made Felipe Massa move over for Fernando Alonso, a key moment in the lifting of the ban on team orders that had long been seen as unenforceable.

The team principal's statement from last year had stayed with Webber. "That is why I made the decision at the time," Webber said. "I wasn't thinking about Hockenheim but I was thinking about trying to pass Sebastian. I am comfortable with what I did at Silverstone."

Intriguingly, Vettel went on to suggest that he would do similar were the roles reversed: "It depends always [on] the situation in the race. Last race there was nothing for us to gain as a team. On one hand you want to race for yourself and on the other hand you try your best as a team."

How this stands with the team and their position in letting the two race each other to the finish is unclear but Webber believes it leaves the ball in Horner's court. "There are some questions that you guys need to ask Christian, which I cannot answer," he said, but the team principal has yet to comment on either driver's statements.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have defended the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, following a struggle to bridge the gap to Red Bull.

Since Button's last-lap victory in Canada last month, the races in Valencia and at Silverstone have seen the team suffer. Over the British Grand Prix weekend mistakes were made, initially in qualifying as Hamilton was sent out on the wrong tyres in the top-10 shoot-out. Then in the race a pit-stop blunder wrecked Button's hopes of finishing on the podium for what would have been the first time in 12 attempts at Silverstone. It has been suggested that Whitmarsh's job is at risk but Hamilton believes that to be far from the case.

"There's no chance of that," he said. "There is a better atmosphere within the team than there ever has been, it is constantly growing. He has been a part of the team for 23 years, so a part of the ups and the downs for many years, but he is doing a fantastic job. I am certain there are no plans for him to go anywhere and we're all working as hard as we can. The team are doing a great job and I feel positive coming into this weekend."