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"We had to choose a path, staying on track was a gamble which, if won, could have broken the bank. It ended badly, sorry, but now we must immediately think about China".
And also to those bubbles on the intermediate tires that slowed down Felipe Massa at the start:
"When you start on the front row, you hope to win, not finish fifth. But I really wasn't good with the intermediates".
Not exactly a party in Red Bull: the day after the victory Sebastian Vettel received the team's official request to provide further explanations about the overtaking against teammate Mark Webber. Christian Horner emphasizes:
"Sebastian knows he made a mistake. He apologized, but we will have to sit down and talk about it".
Apparently the German's mea culpa after the match is not enough to put an end to the internal controversies and move on. Webber's anger was such that Red Bull had to convince him to get on the podium to take part in the awards ceremony. It is not excluded that the team decides to fine Vettel for his behavior in the race, even if Horner maintains maximum confidentiality about this:
"It's one of those things we talk about behind closed doors. He and I have already spoken and we will have the opportunity to discuss it again before the next race".
Heralding a new face-to-face with Vettel before the Chinese Grand Prix. The sparks on the track between Vettel and Webber, on the other hand, are nothing new for Red Bull. The internal rivalry reached its peak in 2010 in Istanbul, where the two drivers ruined a possible one-two by hitting the hatch. Since then, Horner admits, something has cracked in their relationship.
"We have to be honest and say that since Istanbul there has never been great trust between them. However, there has always been great respect. These things happen -he highlights again-. They are both drivers and they push to the limit, it's part of their DNA and that's why Red Bull signed them".
And in Ferrari? For now, our mouths are closed, but the opposing statement between Stefano Domenicali and Fernando Alonso has not gone unnoticed. The first essentially admitted the mistake, the second did not. Indeed, he complained that that was the right choice to make. And to those who pointed this out, Alonso immediately replied promptly:
"We are a very united team, the things that happen in other teams don't happen to us".
The reference, of course, goes to Red Bull. And it is Alonso himself who explains the concept better, if there were still any need:
"At Red Bull they always say they have a calm atmosphere and that they are a harmonious team, but if at Ferrari - with the media pressure we have - the same things happened...".
Controversy aside, it's difficult to blame Alonso. Where it is more difficult to understand what is happening is at Mercedes: to keep Nico Rosberg at bay and avoid overtaking against Lewis Hamilton, Ross Brawn had to intervene several times.
But what if the challenge had been reversed? Are we sure that Brawn would have gone to protect Rosberg from Hamilton? We don't know. The problem is that a person is firmly convinced of the opposite. More than Vettel, more than his Red Bull, the real winner of the Malaysian Grand Prix is hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of the motoring world which for years accused Ferrari of playing dirty with team orders. The original sin of the Italians dates back to 2002, when in Zeltweg, Austria, Ross Brawn ordered Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher pass so that the German could win the World Championship. The next day, the sky opened above the paddock, lightning and thunderbolts struck Maranello, and with the cry of motorsport is about racing, about competition, the men of the Maranello team - and, by extension, the whole of Italy - came accused of unsportsmanlike conduct and convicted. Eleven years later the scene does not change and the characters do not change: the usual Ross Brown, who has passed by in a Mercedes, orders a (German) driver via radio to let another (English) driver arrive first; and yet, incredibly, the reactions change. Nobody in the paddock says anything, on the contrary. Ross Brown is applauded for handling a complex situation well. Mind you, rules have nothing to do with this. Team orders were legal both at Zeltweg and at Sepang. What comes into play here is the intellectual honesty of a certain world. Which, in definitive confirmation of the reasoning, is completely missing from Red Bull. Where the hypocrisy, around a team order, was double. Because faced with Sebastian Vettel's disobedience, the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, instead of reacting like a true leader, pretended nothing had happened, except risking a similar rebuke in favor of the camera at the end of the race. A clear sign that Christian Horner counts for little and that Sebastian Sebastian, protected by Hemult Marko, now does what he wants. A situation similar to what Fernando Alonso is experiencing at Ferrari, where he now counts as much as the team principal, Stefano Domenicali. But also very dangerous: number twos, certain number twos, often have severe digestion problems. And, at least judging by the frenetic movement of Mark Webber's jaws after the race, the rest of the season for Sebastian Vettel will not be easy. Australians don't like hypocrisy.
"I made a mistake in passing him. And with my mistake I ruined everything, I destroyed our relationship".
Afterwards he will say again that Vettel wants to recover at all costs:
"I can't promise anything, I can't give him a victory quickly as a reward, I don't even know if a similar opportunity will arise to be able to do so. But if circumstances were right, I will not forget what happened in Malaysia. And I will act accordingly".
In short, it's not long for him to tell his partner that he wants to go back to the hotel on his knees, perhaps on a road paved with chickpeas. The German's atonement (posthumous and with the happy weight of 25 points in the standings) is maximum, but the singular thing is that in the face of all this Mark Webber is unperturbed.
"Shall we clarify? Maybe, who knows, before China, maybe after. Certainly not now, because I'm going to Australia".
In other words, there will be time or maybe there won't be any more. Game over in relationships. Because then Webber announces:
"I understood how team orders work in the team. And from now on there will be no more for me".
Go ahead and race this World Championship alone, dear Vettel. Couple exploded. With rather heavy sentences too.
"Vettel always asks for the team's protection. He did it this time too. And he was given it".
Actually, and here it is necessary to take a step back, to the most excited phases, inside the race and immediately after the finish line, the German had asked something else on the radio:
"Mark is too slow, get him out of the way".
But the team responded:
"Don't take risks, positions frozen".
And it is on this that Webber takes strength:
"You can't always go like rockets, you have to save the engine and tyres. In agreement with the engineers, I increased my pace by 0.8 seconds, in fact it is as if I had expected it and you saw how it ended. Does Sebastian have a heavy foot? I know, but I know how to drive too and I was perfect in Sepang. We just need to agree and we can all know how to do our job".
By professionals, as the Australian specifies. And not as good friends, as Vettel admits.
"Because pilots never are. I respect Mark for the way he drives the car. I thought that trying to win was the right thing, then I saw the looks of the men on the team, his, and I realized I had done something stupid. I made a mistake, now I'm the black sheep, but I'm convinced that sooner or later we'll clarify things".
It will be up to Christian Horner, the team principal, to try to defuse this bomb.
"It was a senseless overtaking, as a team we took a big risk, it could have all gone down the drain. It's always a lot of stress when two riders are racing so close together. We had ordered not to do it, Vettel acted on his own".
The team therefore, in words, distances itself from Vettel and votes for Webber. In the meantime, however, it enjoys the shower of points in the constructors' championship and is certainly not tearing its hair out for the German driver who already has a good gap between the drivers. To understand if this today's glory will be tomorrow's hell, all that remains is to wait. Monday 25 March 2013 Sebastian Vettel's position becomes complicated: Dietrich Mateschitz, the boss of the energy drink giant that owns the team, was not at all amused witnessing Vettel's tantrums. The indiscretion does not come from a newspaper but directly from Helmut Marko, head of Red Bull Motorsport, who tells the media about the boss' mood. The World Champion, who tried to apologize with the engines off, was reprimanded by the team but will not be fined.
"We made it clear that something like this must not happen again. And, in any case, the drivers still shook hands at the end".
The team makes it clear that the situation will be handled as similar cases have been handled in the past. This time, however, there is a perpetrator and a victim.
"Sebastian has to control his ego. The limit for a driver is represented by the team's interests: if he gets close to this limit, he has to stop. Sebastian was dejected after the race anyway, I don't think he'll do something like this again".
How will it end? According to Bernie Ecclestone, bad. Which is good from his point of view because two drivers fighting each other in one team is the best thing there could be for the show.
"At this point of the year, I don't think there should be team orders. After three quarters of the championship, perhaps we find ourselves in a decisive situation. If there is only one driver who can aim for the title, then his teammate should help him".
And at this stage defending Vettel is equivalent to throwing fuel on the fire.
"Let's assume that these two drivers are in a position to win the World Championship at the end of the season, there is no possibility that Mark will help Sebastian. So, Vettel has to think about it carefully. There will be a moment when he will need Webber's help, but I don't think Mark will be available".
He adds, hypothesizing the consequences of the fratricidal duel in Sepang.
"Imagine a situation where Sebastian and Alonso are fighting for the title, those points make a huge difference. If I were the team principal, I would say to Mark: This is the picture. You can't win the World Championship while Sebastian is in the running, it would be nice for the team to still have a World Champion. But the conversation with Mark wouldn't go smoothly. He would say: Remember what happened. Christian feared that there could be an accident and that both cars would end up knocked out. From this perspective, both pilots were foolish. On the other hand, they are competing. Sebastian wants to win the World Championship and the same goes for Mark. Vettel doesn't know defeat, he doesn't know how to lose. Show me someone who can accept defeat and I'll show you a loser. He deserves respect".
Ecclestone aside, in any case Vettel was warned. And one thing is certain: the next stupid thing he does will cost him dearly. But the F1 patron's utterances are not the only ones: Lewis Hamilton also intervenes in the case. The English driver never misses an opportunity to sow discord on the case of the day:
"Red Bull clearly has a first and second driver, it's always been like that. And that's why they've always had these problems".
Lewis Hamilton thus analyzes the moment of the Anglo-Austrian team after the controversy triggered by Sebastian Vettel's unauthorized overtaking of Mark Webber in Malaysia. But he himself, in his first season in Mercedes after the divorce from McLaren, who has already received a team order (his teammate Nico Rosberg was forced to take his foot off the accelerator and settle for fourth place behind of his teammate) now goes on the attack:
"We don't have a first and second driver in Mercedes. I've always said, from the first moment I spoke to the team, that I want equal treatment (with Rosberg, ed.). They hadn't offered me preferential treatment but I only wanted to underline that I'm not that type of rider who comes and asks for things like that like a lot of other riders do".
While Red Bull is busy finding a forced peace between Vettel and Webber, two who decided to break off their relationship after the Sepang war, and who will now report to Horner, the team principal, Ferrari does not lose too much time to complain about what happened in Malaysia and is already thinking about the next Grand Prix.
The error remains. But a phrase by Stefano Domenicali weighs heavily on the mood, which should give rise to optimism:
"Last year we were here to celebrate Alonso's triumph, but we knew we didn't have a car capable of competing with the best. Now we are here crying, but we have a car capable of withstanding the clash with the best teams. And I honestly prefer it that way".
Ferrari is competitive, in Malaysia it did not disappoint in terms of performance and now it wants to demonstrate its strength in China, on a track where it hit rock bottom last season. That track was contrary to last year's car, a car that often found itself groping in the dark, with data on the asphalt that did not coincide with those coming from the wind tunnel, but it should prove to be more suitable for the current car. The problem of track-tunnel references has been overcome and this has allowed the car's development plan to be significantly brought forward. What was done after the fourth race in Bahrain in 2012 will now be done immediately. The innovations that will be brought to Shanghai have not, as is obvious, been made known, but we know that the technicians are working hard on the rear (the exhausts area) and on the front of the wings, as has already been seen in Sepang with a front wing designed specifically for that track. Furthermore, a lot of work will be done in these days on the Pirelli tires, a real key factor in performance. Optimism reigns, because Domenicali, while waiting for the technical briefing to be held in Maranello, leaves comforted by the performance of the two Ferraris. Massa struggled a lot with the intermediate tires, but with the softs he ran at the same pace as Red Bull and Mercedes. Alonso could have done the same or even better. So all that remains is to look at the positive side. In the World Constructors' Championship the situation compared to 2012 after two races is positive, because Ferrari is on 40 points compared to 35 points last season. Thanks to a reborn Massa who went from 0 to 22 points. The situation is different for Alonso, who was leading with 35 points and is now stuck at 18 points. But the Spaniard does not despair, for two reasons.
"I like the car and it gives me confidence".
And then, incurably superstitious:
"I have 18 points, the same as Vettel had after two races. Who ultimately won the World Championship".
Felipe Massa aims high: 2013 will be the right year for Ferrari.
"I'm very confident, we can win again. We didn't have the car to win in Malaysia, but we were capable of fighting for the podium. We have to keep our feet on the ground, a lot of work was done on the car but there is still a lot to do to achieve the right evolution and make it even more competitive".
The Brazilian's optimism is also due to his good personal performance in Sepang, where Massa finished in fifth place.
"I think that if we continue in this direction, the possibility of winning races and fighting for the championship is there. The pace was good. Certainly without the problem at the start of the race, the race could have been very different".
He says referring to the graining problems he had in the first stint of the Sepang race.
"The possibility of fighting for the podium would have been much higher. It's important to bring home points, and fifth place, looking at the first part of the race, wasn't that bad".
Optimism is the watchword: Ferrari still shows off satisfaction after the Malaysian race:
"Ten points are certainly not a haul equal to expectations but, above all, to potential. If it is clear that the result was a cold shower - even if it is difficult to imagine it as such in the Malaysian heat - for Scuderia Ferrari after the excellent qualifying on Saturday, it is equally clear that an in-depth analysis of the weekend's progress highlights several positive aspects, especially from a technical point of view. The competitiveness of the F138, already seen the previous weekend in Melbourne, was also confirmed on a circuit much more significant than the atypical one in Albert Park".
Right, the car is strong, but not in qualifying. And Ferrari doesn't hide:
"It's true that, especially on the flying lap, there is still some ground to make up, in particular compared to the Red Bull but also compared to the Mercedes, but it is on the race pace that the Red car showed its strength. This was also seen yesterday afternoon, when Felipe Massa put on dry tyres. Yes, because the Brazilian was in difficulty with the intermediate tyres, the complete opposite of what had happened the previous afternoon in qualifying, when the performance on the wet tires had allowed the two Ferraris to overtake all their opponents with the exception of Vettel. To understand how good the Brazilian's pace was just take a look at the lap times. On the ninth lap, once the series of pit stops that marked the transition from intermediates to slicks had ended, Felipe's gap to the race leader, Mark Webber, was 22.627 seconds: the gap to the winner Sebastian Vettel was three seconds higher (25.648 seconds). This means that for 47 laps Felipe's pace was up to the winners' pace and it certainly cannot be said that they held back up front! The second overall lap time achieved by the Brazilian is further confirmation of the competitiveness of the car".
This therefore explains, again in the opinion of Scuderia Ferrari, Fernando Alonso's anger, which he could have won.
"It's true that, in hindsight it's always easy to talk, which also applies to all the critical comments made on the team's choice - it's up to the engineers to decide, in a few seconds, on similar occasions, based on both telemetry and sensations of the driver's driving - to leave Fernando on the track even with the damaged front wing. There was the desire not to miss the opportunity to stay in the fight for points due to a small touch. A wrong choice, a risk not to be taken? Yes, it's true but inspired by the awareness of having, for the first time in several years, a competitive vehicle since the start of the season. A lesson to keep in mind for the immediate future because certain mistakes must not be repeated but which must not erase the good things seen in this Sepang weekend".