Christian Horner has played down suggestions that Sebastian Vettel once again defied team orders during Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix…
Like in Bahrain a fortnight ago, where the German was asked by Horner to let team-mate Daniel Ricciardo pass because the Australian was on a different tyre strategy, Vettel again received the order to let the sister Red Bull past in Shanghai on Sunday.
“Tough luck,” Vettel replied to the order when he learnt that they were on the same tyre strategy this time around.
Team Principal Horner, though, quickly moved to dismiss claims that the German was unhappy about the status quo within the team, saying that Vettel’s statement came when he thought they were on identical strategies, when they weren’t in fact because Ricciardo’s soft compound Pirellis had lasted several laps longer than those on the four-time World Champion’s RB10.
Vettel most certainly did disobey team orders…. we all heard him. The only reason he finally gave way was because he suddenly realised that Rikki was going to pass him anyway, and that would have made him look a very average driver. Whether he IS only an average driver (or even just a ‘good’ driver) is still unclear, but I guess we’ll be finding out this season.