Vettel puts an end to the Sepang controversy
Sebastian Vettel, visibly annoyed by the turmoil created by his maneuver during the Malaysian Grand Prix, has decided to put an end to this controversy by speaking frankly on the subject. He notably expressed that he does not have to apologize for winning in Sepang.
For three weeks, Formula 1 has been in turmoil following the diplomatic incident that occurred during the Malaysian Grand Prix between the two Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
If the Australian took advantage of this break between the races in Malaysia and China to recharge at home in Australia and stay relatively out of the media spotlight, Sebastian Vettel decided to address the subject on the sidelines of the upcoming Grand Prix in Shanghai. He speaks in a video recorded and broadcast by Infiniti, the title sponsor of the Red Bull team.
He reflects on his mistakes, but assures that he didn’t have to apologize for winning the race: « I apologized to the team right after the race, saying that’s not what I wanted to do. There isn’t much to add. I don’t apologize for winning. I think that’s the reason, first and foremost, why people hire me, and why I’m here. I love competition, and that’s what I do. In the moment, it might be different, but I would probably do the same thing again. »
On the other hand, the triple world champion from Germany expressed his frustration about the fact that most people focused on the incident between him and Mark Webber, without considering the one-two finish achieved by Red Bull in the race: « Unfortunately, people don’t see that we had a really good performance that day. We did very good work. It was a fantastic result. We had a great weekend in Australia, but we might not have achieved the results we were expecting. But in Malaysia, we led the race and managed the tires and everything else very well. That’s what people forgot. Obviously, the way the race ended remains in people’s minds. But I think there’s not much more to add regarding what happened. »
Moreover, in a recent interview with the German magazine Sport Bild, Helmut Marko, right-hand man to Dietrich Mateschitz at Red Bull, stated that the latter would let its two drivers fight it out without team orders: “We will not give team orders anymore.”
