Horner emphasizes team ethic
Monday 11th July 2011
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner is confident Mark Webber will not be dissuaded from signing a new contract following the team orders saga at the British Grand Prix.
Webber cut a frustrated figure after the race after being told to maintain the gap to Sebastian Vettel by Horner as the duo scrapped for second place over the final two laps.
Horner was forced to jump onto the team radio as Webber had ignored his own race engineer on at least four occasions, but such words fell on deaf ears.
Webber felt he was within his rights to fight for the runner-up spot behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, however, Horner was far from impressed with the 34-year-old's disregard for instructions.
For Webber, it was yet another case of playing second fiddle to Vettel, as occurred at the 2010 British Grand Prix.
Whether that has any impact on Webber re-signing for the team now remains to be seen.
Asked whether the situation could create problems with regard to contract negotiations, Horner said: "I sincerely hope not."
Again outlining Red Bull's ethos, Horner added: "At the end of the day, it's about the team.
"I can understand that sometimes a driver may be frustrated with an instruction, but my responsibility is to ensure the team optimises its results.
"There would have been absolutely no benefit in both cars coming back on a tow truck."
However, Horner's instruction goes against the grain of a recent remark by owner Dietrich Mateschitz that Red Bull would never impose team orders.
In response, Horner added: "Mr Mateschitz would not thank us for having both cars in the fence in the last lap, with so many points lost having got ourselves into a very good position.
"We did not stop them racing each other at the start, but there comes a point in a race, with two or three laps to go, when you have a lot of points and both cars on the podium, that it would be absolute stupidity to allow them to keep fighting.
"We saw it get very, very close between the two of them, and we would have looked pretty stupid if they had both ended up in the fence."
With Vettel 80 points clear of Webber in the standings, 92 clear of Alonso and 95 ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, it appears ludicrous Red Bull should find the need to impose team orders.
Button, who suffered personal heartache at Silverstone when he was forced to retire as a wheel nut was not fitted to his front-right tyre at his final pit stop, knows such incidents could hurt Red Bull, but only if McLaren start to improve.
"They obviously think they need team orders," said Button.
"They probably didn't want them to crash because that would have lost Seb 18 points, which is quite a lot.
"It's the regulations now. It's not a regulation I agree with, but they can do what they want.
"At the end of the day it is for them to sort out, but it's not helping us at the moment because we have to finish races first."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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