Christian Horner left to make a championship-deciding decision
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has always maintained he will never use team orders, but following the unfortunate turn of events at the Korean Grand Prix, he has a lot of thinking to do.
Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine failure when he was nine laps away from winning the race, while Mark Webber crashed out after riding a wet kerb. Pre-race, Webber was 14 points clear of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, but after Alonso took the race win, Webber trails by 11 points with Vettel 25 adrift.
When Ferrari decided to back Alonso at the German Grand Prix back in July, they were heavily criticised for telling Felipe Massa to let Alonso through to win the race. They were fined $100,000, but with Alonso on course to win his third world championship, it looks like it was a price worth paying.
Even though they went against the rules, Ferrari made the right call to back Alonso and have justified their decision. Ferrari risked losing points when they appeared at a court hearing days before the Italian Grand Prix, but they are now quietly pleased with themselves.
Horner will now have to think long and hard about what he is going to do.
His decision to let his drivers race one another came to the boil at the Turkish Grand Prix in May, where Vettel and Webber collided with each other to throw away the race win and the potential one-two finish.
Engine failures cost Vettel in last year’s championship battle - allowing Jenson Button to go on and become world champion - and lightning has struck twice. The moment Vettel’s engine blew his championship took a massive dent.
“I haven't had time to look at all the mathematics and scenarios,” said Horner after yesterday’s race.
“It's something obviously we will look at pretty closely between now and Brazil. Clearly the objective for both of them is to be ahead of Fernando and Lewis [Hamilton], as we achieved on Saturday [qualifying], and as was the case in the race when we looked set for a good result.
“Unfortunately that didn't happen, and it was a race win that was beyond our control. In the end we gifted Fernando 25 points, which is obviously frustrating, but this is a championship I believe will go down to the last lap in Abu Dhabi,” Horner added.
Hamilton is 21 points behind Alonso, and McLaren may force Button to support him, as he is 42 adrift. Horner is yet to indicate whether he will follow suit.
“Mark is second and Sebastian has dropped to fourth in the championship,” he said. “There is still only a race win between Sebastian and Alonso, and how many times have we seen this year the championship to and fro?
“So it's impossible to have a crystal ball and predict what will happen in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.”
It will take more than a crystal ball to get Horner out of this tough decision.
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