twitter
    Find out what I'm doing, Follow Me :)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Red Bull principal faces tough test


F1 Grand Prix of China - Race

Christian Horner faces arguably the most testing time of his tenure as team principal of Red Bull Racing over the next two weeks.

Horner will begin to deal with the damaging headlines following a Turkish Grand Prix to forget as drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel blew a near-certain one-two finish.

Vettel's collision with Webber on lap 40, when he turned into his team-mate as he attempted to pass up the inside down the straight into Turn 12, culminated in the German spinning into retirement.

In an inconclusive aftermath Vettel claimed Webber should have given him room; Webber countered Vettel should not have turned into him, whilst Horner blamed both, although slightly favoured the German.

Given prior rumours of a split in the camp, Sunday's incidents have added fuel to the fire that is now raging around Red Bull.

Certainly the comments of Helmut Marko, the right-hand man to team owner and energy drinks magnate Dietrich Mateschitz, in which he clearly blamed Webber, have further inflamed the situation.

What a contrast to two weeks ago when Red Bull appeared unbeatable after their one-two in Monaco which resulted in Webber and Vettel jumping into Monte Carlo's harbour in celebration.

Horner must now repair the apparent rift to ensure there will be no ongoing problem and the relationship does not sour further, otherwise Red Bull's championship challenge will disintegrate.

"It's one we will have to manage," said Horner, who now has just over a week to get the team's house in order before they head to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.

"They're both grown ups, they need to both look at it objectively, and we need to move on from here.

"What's happened has happened, and we need to make sure in going to the next race that as a team we learn from this and don't find ourselves in the same position again.

"The drivers need to learn from it because it's cost them and the team dearly. We gave McLaren their points on a plate.

"Clearly they are fairly strong-willed individuals, but they both drive for the team and they recognise that. No individual is bigger than the team.

"For me, it's not about blame, about whose fault it is, so we will sit down with both drivers, go through what's happened and do our best to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Horner categorically denied there was an Anglo-Austrian divide that could potentially rip the team apart as the season progresses.

But with McLaren clearly having made significant strides, Horner's concerns are growing ahead of the next two races.

"We have to bounce back, and we will in Montreal and Valencia," added Horner.

"But they are two tracks that are going to play to McLaren's straight-line advantage as they are very strong in that area.

"We will have to use the performance of our car in other areas, but it was very, very close between the two teams who were a long way ahead of the rest."

No comments:

Post a Comment