• Indian Grand Prix

Red Bull tried to slow Vettel down - Horner

ESPNF1 Staff
October 31, 2011 « Front wing behaviour puzzles Ferrari | Parr coy on Raikkonen rumours »
Christian Horner says that Red Bull turned Sebastian Vettel's engine down from the pit wall © Sutton Images
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Christian Horner admitted that Red Bull tried to slow Sebastian Vettel down in the closing laps of the Indian Grand Prix.

Vettel had built up a clear lead over Jenson Button in the final stint, and having held the fastest lap for most of the race, Mark Webber had gone quicker with two laps remaining. On the penultimate lap Vettel responded with another faster time, after which his race engineer came over the radio to tell him that he had secured the fastest lap and to "bring it home".

Despite the message, Vettel then proceeded to set an even faster lap on the final lap, as he had done in Korea. Horner revealed that the team had done all it could from the pit wall in an attempt to stop him from taking any unnecessary risks, and when asked if Vettel had checked with the team that it was OK to go for the lap time he said the driver was fully aware of the team's stance.

"Of course not, because he knows that we don't like it!" Horner said. "We'd done our best to manage him by turning all the engine modes down, the KERS off; short of putting a cow on the circuit there was not a lot else we could do. At the end of the day we have complete trust in him, I'm sure that he still had a margin in there. The most important thing for him is to win the race, and he knows that there's no points for fastest lap. He likes that little statistic to complete a perfect weekend."

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