Horner: “This shouldn’t have happened”

Christian Horner returned to the tensions that animated the Red Bull team during the final laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Team Principal of the Milton Keynes team regrets Sebastian Vettel's maneuver.

Published on 24/03/2013 à 17:30

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Red Bull Racing could celebrate his double at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but nervousness is present in the Austrian team at the end of the race. Sebastian Vettel caused great tension in his team by choosing to disobey the instructions by attacking his teammate Mark Webber who was leading the race and who had prepared to manage the last laps by limiting his engine speed to conserve the tires and the car . The three-time world champion claimed his 27th victory in F1 and leads the Championship, but the German admitted having made a mistake and had to apologize to the Australian.

Christian Horner did not appreciate Sebastian Vettel's risk-taking, the two Red Bull drivers almost colliding while competing for the lead in the Malaysian Grand Prix. “There will be a lot of debate about what happened at the end of the race”, declared the Team Principal of Milton Keynes after the Sepang race. “Our strategy after the last stop focused on managing the race until the finish while conserving the tires to bring our cars to the finish and get as many points as possible. Unfortunately, the interests of the drivers can sometimes conflict with the interests of the team. Sebastian decided to pull the blanket over himself and confront Mark. This is frustrating. F1 is both a team discipline and an individual sport and there can sometimes be a conflict between the driver's wishes and the team's interest. This should not have happened, Sebastian has apologized and we will discuss it internally. »

Sebastian Vettel leaves Sepang with a nine-point lead over Kimi Räikkönen in just seventh after his victory at the Australian Grand Prix. Red Bull's double allows the Austrian team to move to the top of the Constructors' Championship with 26 points ahead of Lotus F1 Team and the Team Ferrari.

Discover the analysis of the Malaysian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.