|
 Four-times champion Vettel and his team have suffered a string of
setbacks due to the new Renault power unit and the problems
continued in Bahrain on Saturday with the German breaking down on
his first lap of the day.
Vettel helped marshals push the stricken RB10 back to the garage.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports News that
speculation Vettel had thrown a tantrum when he first tested the car
back in January was "complete and utter rubbish".
"I don't know where that came from about Sebastian," he added. "He
is fine, he understands that there are issues and he is trying to
help the team where he can.
"There has not been one raised voice, one bit of discontent. He has
just got his head down and he has a huge amount of trust in the
team."
The Red Bull website (www.infinti-redbullracing.com) also carried a
highly sarcastic report from their "F1 Spy" about the rumor mill.
Vettel, it joked, had sent the team a postcard to say sorry and
decided to spend a couple of weeks chilling out watching daytime
soaps and eating crisps round at former team mate Mark Webber's
house.
[to top of second column] |
While Red Bull and some of the other Renault-engined teams have been
struggling to string a significant number of laps together, Mercedes
and Ferrari-powered rivals have been doing race simulations.
Vettel's new Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo, preparing for a
home season-opener in Melbourne on March 16, said on Thursday the
team was still "not up to scratch" with time running out.
Ricciardo had a more positive day on Friday but Saturday brought
more gloom and Horner said the team was "still definitely on the
back foot.
"This is the 10th day of testing and we are about 10 days behind I
reckon," he added.
Horner said cooling issues that had sidelined the team during the
first team in Jerez, Spain, had been addressed and Red Bull were
working hard with Renault to fix other problems that had emerged.
"We still have another two weeks before Melbourne, for sure we will
be bringing more parts to Melbourne. It would just be great if we
could have another couple of days like we had yesterday."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
