Alonso’s comment last week that he was fighting Red Bull’s chief technical
officer Adrian Newey, the genius behind the RB8, was taken to be backhanded
criticism of the 25 year-old German who has enjoyed the best car for most of
the last three seasons and is a firm favourite to make it a hat-trick of
championships in 2012.
Horner feels that is unfair — both on Vettel and the rest of the team. “It is
very simplistic to say it is all about Adrian,” Horner said. “Yes, it is
Adrian’s [technical] team but you have to have all of the elements doing
their bit. I liken it to a conductor — you can have the greatest conductor
in the world but if you haven’t got the right string instruments or wind
instruments, the music will be rubbish.
“It is uncomfortable the success that Sebastian has had, and uncomfortable for
some the success that Red Bull has had.
“That’s not our fault. [Vettel] has achieved some remarkable things in a
short space of time. He has not completed 100 grands prix yet but he has won
26 per cent of them so far and not just in cars capable of winning from the
front, he has done it in a Toro Rosso in the wet, he has done it in cars
that, on the day, haven’t been the best car.
“If you look beyond the last four races — to Melbourne where he qualified
sixth and finished second, a fantastic drive there; if you think of his
drive in Spa, he qualified eleventh and finished second. Anybody who thought
he couldn’t overtake, he proved them wrong that day.
“One of his most impressive drives was in Hungary where he was
absolutely on the ragged edge from green light to chequered flag.
“He has a calmness about him and had it not been for an alternator
problem this year he would be sitting on quite a few more points.”
Three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart recently argued that Vettel could
not yet be described as one of the “greats” because he has enjoyed a
superior car.
But Horner dismissed that suggestion and added that to belittle Vettel’s
achievements was an insult to his team-mate Mark Webber.
“I think from memory Jackie won all his championships driving for Ken
Tyrrell,” Horner said. “Everyone says Sebastian is only winning because he
is in the best car but he is up against bloody tough team-mate in Mark. In
their time together, Seb has won 25 races to Mark’s nine in the same
equipment. And it is absolutely 100 per cent the same equipment.
“Seb doesn’t brag about it, he carries it modestly and it is remarkable
what he has achieved in a short space of time. And he is getting better.”
Alonso, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions in the Italian press that he had been
involved with a row with Ferrari
technical chief Pat Fry in India.
“That was a very nice invention from the Italian media,” said Alonso, who
added that he expected Red Bull’s dominance to continue in Abu Dhabi.
“We don’t think we will close the gap completely from India. We’ll try to get
closer to put some more pressure on.
“We know that Red Bull sometimes is a little bit more fragile. We saw in the
last race where Webber lost KEYS. So we need to push them. We need to be at
the limit all the race through, because they had easy races.”