Christian Horner reluctant to follow team orders
The Red Bull team boss, Christian Horner dismissed any possibility of issuing team orders at the last race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Before heading for the last round, the Brazilian Grand Prix, the top three slots of the tally were occupied by the Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. However, the brilliant victory of Sebastian Vettel last Sunday has brought yet another twist in the Drivers’ Championship.
As the teams now head for the final race, Alonso occupies the top of the charts with his 246 points, while Webber stands at second place being eight points off the leader and Vettel is further seven points adrift his team-mate. In such a situation, if Vettel wins the next race, Alonso will have to finish at least at fourth place to win. On the other hand, Webber’s victory would bring home the Drivers' title as well, in addition to the Constructors' title bagged by the Red Bull in Brazil.
With such standings, the team could be on the safe side if it decides to back any one of the drivers and ask the other also to help him. However, just like what happened many times earlier this season, the team principal has completely ruled out any kind of team orders once again, declaring that both the racers will fight their battle till the very end of the rope. According to analysts, if the team had decided to back Webber, the chances of victory could have increased immensely for the team.
While answering to the reporters earlier today Horner said, "Nobody has a crystal ball, nobody can foresee what will happen next weekend and all along we have tried to do the best to support them equally. And of course if they find themselves in a situation where one, because he cannot win, needs to help the other then of course I can only imagine that they will do that. But it will have to be a driver decision."
However, whatever the team principal says it is known to all that both the drivers will never help each other due to the intense animosity between them. Right from the mid of the season, they have been rivals and their rivalry has been quite visible, but it reached to the peak just a few days before the Brazilian round.
Nevertheless, there are yet fourteen more days to go and the Austrian team hopes to clean the air in the team.
Finally, the team boss concluded saying, "It's one week away. As a kid, I never liked it when my parents teased me for something and didn't answer my question, so now I'm in a good position to tease you, so you will see."
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