Red Bull: No tension between Vettel and Ricciardo

As in Bahrain, the two Red Bull drivers found themselves on track, and, as in Bahrain, the Red Bull pitwall ordered Sebastian Vettel to move aside to avoid delaying his teammate. Unlike the Bahrain race, however, the reigning four-time World Champion did not want to let Daniel Ricciardo pass immediately.

In his post-race reaction, the German driver explained wanting to understand why his team asked him this, as both drivers had the same tire compound and seemed to be on a similar strategy. Thus, at the first request, he was told that Ricciardo had fresher tires than him, to which Vettel replied « Tough luck », continuing to resist his teammate’s attempts.

But when, on the 25th lap, Guillaume Rocquelin, Vettel’s race engineer, informed him that the Australian was on a two-stop strategy, while he himself was considering three pit stops at that time, he finally deviated.

For Christian Horner, the director of Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel’s reaction was completely normal and showed no signs of tension: « He’s a racing driver. We employ these guys because they have a fighting spirit. He didn’t become a four-time World Champion without being a competitor. » A fighting spirit that Vettel demonstrated last year during the Malaysian Grand Prix, by disobeying his pit crew who had frozen the positions while Mark Webber was leading.

The Briton expected the reaction from the number 1 driver: « Obviously, he was going to ask a question to understand, but as soon as he understood the reasoning, he immediately stepped aside, » he said to our colleagues from Autosport.

In his post-race reaction, Daniel Ricciardo himself expressed his understanding of Vettel’s initial reaction: « With Seb, we raced against each other and you always want to keep your position, but the team came over the radio and he let me through. »

Asked afterwards whether this hesitation may have cost Ricciardo time in his distant battle with Fernando Alonso for the podium, Horner replied: « I don’t think so. I think he would have been a second closer, but he did the right thing for the team and let his teammate pass. »

Furthermore, as Sebastian Vettel experienced bitterly at the beginning of the race, the Red Bull struggled to compete with Ferrari in top speed on the fast sections, which would have undoubtedly also prevented the Australian from easily getting rid of the Spaniard: « Catching him is one thing, but with the [speed] deficit we had on the back straight, overtaking was going to be something different. »

At the championship, Sebastian Vettel is 5th with 33 points and Daniel Ricciardo 6th with 24 units; the leader, Nico Rosberg, has 79. Red Bull is second in the constructors’ championship, 97 points behind Mercedes.