Formula 1

Red Bull Frustrated After Losing Victory in Final Corners of Canadian Grand Prix

3 Mins read

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that driver Sebastian Vettel had paid the price for ‘a rare mistake’ in the closing corners of the Canadian Grand Prix, but did draw a number of positives was the race that ended with both his drivers on the podium.

“After a long afternoon and to have pretty much led every lap of the race, it was obviously frustrating to lose the Grand Prix almost in sight of the chequered flag,” said Horner. “Jenson (Button) was very quick in the closing stages of the race and Sebastian was fighting very hard to keep him out of the DRS zone, as we could see how powerful that was. Unfortunately Sebastian made a rare mistake on a day when a lot of drivers made a lot of mistakes. He paid a price, but second is still a very good result and far from disastrous.

“We got a lot of points and Sebastian's only 14 points off amaximum score after seven races, which is an achievement in itself. I think Formula One provided tremendous entertainment this afternoon.

“Mark battled his way back through the field and had a great duel with Michael; he put in an excellent drive to join Sebastian on the podium, so from a team point of view to get a second and third on a day when neither Fernando nor Lewis scored, is still a very good afternoon's work. Hats off to the guys who stood in the rain for an hour and a half today waiting for there-start, hopefully there won't be too many with colds in the morning.”

Vettel held his hands up, admitting his mistake on the final lap. He was obviously not particularly happy with the manner in which he led the victory slip away: “Of course I'm disappointed,” said the reigning world champion. “I think it was a very difficult race from start to finish and we led every single lap, apart from the last one, or part of the last one.

“I think I was probably too conservative when I was inthe lead after the last safety car; I didn't open the gap enough and was trying to hold the gap to the cars behind. Then I saw Jenson coming through, I was pushing and thought it would be enough to the end, but obviously it wasn't, as I made a mistake.

“It's down to me, I locked up the rear a little bit and what youhave to do then is open up the car and go a bit straighter, there's only one line and I ended up in the wet, so it was quite easy for him to pass.

“But, surely I think it was a good day today, it's easy to make mistakes and there were a lot of cars not finishing, so it's good to get the points. That said, at the moment- when you have it in your hands and you give it away – then it's not the sweetest feeling. But, I think all in all, it was a good race for us today.”

Mark Webber had to fight his way through the field to claim his third place in Canada, and said that he particularly enjoyed his fight with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher:

“It was an eventful race!” exclaimed the Aussie. “I had a few people to pass after the break; it wasn't too hard until the dry line appeared on the racing line and it was slippery off line. It was then very hard to clear some of the guys, as it meant there was such a narrow window to get down the inside of people. When you have experienced guys like Michael (Schumacher) and Nick (Heidfeld) to pass, well those guys know what they're doing, so it becomes even trickier.

“I decided to roll the dice and go onto the slicks. I was happy tos ee that not everyone followed immediately, so I had two laps which was enough to bring me back in the game for the podium. Then it was a pretty good fight with Michael, we both wanted the same bit of track when we were braking for the chicane, but when JB arrived, he was absolutely flying. Today's result means plenty of points for the team and it's a good result, so I'm pretty happy with that.”

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David is an occasional contributer to the site on matters related to Formula 1. You can follow him on twitter at @Dr_Bean.
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