It was not as clear cut a case as Malaysia in 2013, when Vettel ignored his
team to pass Mark Webber for victory. But regardless, the reigning champion
admitted he was struggling with the RB10, ending up 24 seconds behind
Ricciardo.
Vettel said: “I did move over. Initially I didn’t understand because we
were on the same tyres unlike Bahrain, that’s why I double-checked. I had to
see more and more towards the end of the race that I did not have the pace.
In the end there was no point holding him back.
“I’m not where I want to be, so I’m fighting with the car. We make one step
forward and one step back.”
Horner echoed Vettel’s sentiments, while praising Ricciardo’s “exceptional”
start to his Red Bull career.
“Sebastian is having a tough time at the moment because he hasn’t got that
feeling from the car that he’s looking for,” he said. “For any driver they
don’t like that call, but he’s absolutely abided by it. He’s a
team player at the end of the day.
“The one thing you can be assured of is that he will be looking extremely hard
at this weekend to understand where the differences are. There will be no
driver working harder in the three-week gap to bounce back in Barcelona.”
Meanwhile, the row between McLaren and Red Bull surrounding a prize designer
continued on Sunday.
Dan Fallows had signed for McLaren but returned to Red Bull two weeks before
the Chinese Grand Prix, prompting Ron Dennis to declare they are taking the
world champions to the High Court.
The pair spoke in Shanghai, but after Dennis questioned Red Bull’s integrity,
Horner said: “We have to be very careful that this is not detracting from
their focus, which should be a little closer to home.”