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Vettel has every right to be frustrated - Horner

ESPN Staff
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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Sebastian Vettel has every right to be frustrated after the lacklustre start to his championship defence this year.

Vettel is currently sixth in the drivers' standings after struggling with reliability issues and a lack of power compared to rivals Mercedes. He retired from the opening race of the season and again at the Monaco Grand Prix while running third, with his frustration starting to show on the team radio.

"He's doing nothing wrong and is smart enough to recognise that, so like any sportsman he is going to be frustrated when things go wrong," Horner said. "With time to take a breath and reflect, he will keep working away at it. It is the nature of who he is that he will never give up, keep his head down and keep working harder and harder."

After years of dealing with a toxic relationship at Red Bull between Vettel and ex-team-mate Mark Webber, Horner said it is refreshing that the focus is now on the Mercedes drivers this year.

"It's part of sport, I'm just relieved it's not us for a change. Every team will deal with their issues how they see the best fit and I assume that Mercedes will deal with it the way they want it dealt with. It's the nature of sport, that when you've got competitive sportsmen competing against each other the word 'team-mate' is a bit of a fallacy."

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