Red Bull has hit back at claims the team lied about a technical problem in Malaysia in order to gain a tactical advantage for the forthcoming races.

Near the end of the Sepang race, Sebastian Vettel’s engineer repeatedly instructed the back-to-back world champion to retire his RB8 car.

Team boss Christian Horner said the brake temperatures had risen to a dangerous level, but Vettel nonetheless raced to the chequered flag and finished eleventh, one position out of the points.

Horner explained Vettel did not hear the radio calls due to a “lightening strike”, but photos prove that the German driver was also repeatedly shown pit boards with the same messages.

And the 24-year-old revealed after the race: “Of course you can save the car, but I wanted to see the chequered flag. I think that’s how it should be.”

Moreover, the authoritative Auto Motor und Sport quotes Vettel as confirming: “I heard the command.”

Red Bull has been accused in some media reports of feigning the brake problem in order to retire the car for tactical reasons and therefore install a fresh gearbox for China next month without penalty.

Dr Helmut Marko told Bild newspaper: “After the crash (with Narain Karthikeyan), the temperature of the brakes rose far above the allowed level.

“We called him in purely because the car was no longer safe. It was not a tactical decision,” the Austrian insisted.

It is reported that Vettel will sit with his team bosses this week in Milton-Keynes to discuss the apparently ignored team order.

German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck said: “Another driver would be fired, but Vettel has the confidence of being a double world champion.”

According to Welt newspaper, Swiss commentator Marc Surer added: “It was the right decision by Vettel, as the team needs to be careful with commands like that.”

Interest in the 2011 season will decline now that Sebastian Vettel has wrapped up the world championship.
The world’s media are busy hailing the 24-year-old German’s latest achievement rather than building up as per normal for the next race, to take place in just a few days in South Korea.

McLaren and FOTA chief Martin Whitmarsh admits that, from the public’s point of view, the early championship conclusion has taken the shine off the forthcoming races also in India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

“Inevitably, there will be a drop of interest — the tension and excitement that we’ve been fortunate to encounter in recent years is never a given,” he told the Times of India, referring to recent season finales.

On the other hand, Whitmarsh said that any consequences of a championship contest, such as team orders or racing with an eye on the points mathematics, will now dissipate.

“I actually think you’ll really see the gloves come off and we’ll get to see some truly incredible racing by the greatest drivers in the world,” he insisted.

There is also the issue of driver motivation, with Fernando Alonso for example buoyed that his car was at least competitive at Suzuka even though Ferrari has ceased its development.

“That gives us some extra motivation for the remaining races knowing that it is going to be tough as the updates on the car will be minimal,” said the Spaniard.

“But in some races, some circuits, we are still competitive, so why not fight for victory in one of the remaining races.”

After crashing out of the consecutive Italian and Singapore grands prix, Lewis Hamilton has vowed a different approach to the remaining races in 2010.

Before his terminal crash into Felipe Massa at Monza, and then Mark Webber last Sunday, the McLaren driver was considered a favourite for the world championship.

But he is now 20 points adrift with four – or three, depending on embattled Korea’s fate – races to go.

“I’ve changed my attitude,” he said in an interview with Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

“I’m not looking at the world championship any more.  I will try to win the next races but above all I want to enjoy my racing,” added the Briton.

Hamilton’s new attitude may also be explained by the nature of the forthcoming races, with Red Bull and Ferrari expected to set the pace at Suzuka next weekend.

“The types of corners (at Suzuka) will be most favourable to Red Bull,” Ferrari test driver Marc Gene wrote in his El Mundo column.

“It wouldn’t surprise me to see them better than the rest and very difficult to beat.  But we will have improvements so you can’t rule us out for the win,” added the Spaniard.

While Ferrari has undoubtedly closed the gap to Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel said recently that the Japanese venue was so suitable for the RB6 that it seems John Hugenholtz “made Suzuka for us”.

“And all the other tracks should suit our car as well.  Korea is the only unknown one, but that’s the same for everyone,” the German told Bild newspaper.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, now the lowest-ranked of the five contenders and 25 points behind leader Webber, said before returning to the UK for simulation tests: “Hopefully Korea goes ahead.”

Another concern for Ferrari is engine usage, given that if Fernando Alonso needs to fit another unit before the Abu Dhabi finale, he will take a ten-place grid penalty.

“There is no reason to think too much about it,” a Ferrari engineer is quoted by El Pais newspaper.

“In Singapore Fernando used an engine that had already done two races,” he explained, adding that the difference between a new and old engine is “not much more” than 2 horse power.

With the Red Bull-fight raging, it is easy to overlook that the whole episode was triggered by the major step forward made by McLaren in Turkey.

The entire F1 paddock had predicted another race of utter dominance from the energy drinks-owned team.

But although Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were leading at Istanbul Park, it was the pressure applied by the chasing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button that revved up the urgency of Vettel’s ill-fated overtaking move.

“We were quicker than the Red Bulls,” said Button.  “It’s amazing how much of a leap we’ve made.  We’ve bridged the gap and the rest have stayed back.”

It is suggested that the success of McLaren’s F-duct on the long straights of Turkey has clouded the overall improvement to the MP4-25 car.

Red Bull tested its own version of the straightline speed-boosting innovation in Istanbul, and will test it again on Friday in Canada after the team decided not to qualify or race with the immature system.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner is busily sorting out the internal teammate crisis at present, but he is also expecting another hard fight from McLaren at the forthcoming races.

“We’ll bounce back in Montreal and Valencia, but those are two tracks that are going to play to (McLaren’s) straightline advantage,” he admitted.

Joan Villadelprat wrote in his latest column for El Pais newspaper: “The Mercedes engine, the most powerful on the grid, is another element playing in the favour of McLaren.”

And Ferrari test driver Marc Gene wrote in El Mundo: “We must applaud the British team.  They did a great race and the one-two was no accident.

“Their improvement has been remarkable and their jump has surprised everybody.”

(GMM)

May 4 (GMM)  Gerhard Berger has backed Michael Schumacher amid a climate of continuing criticism of the seven time world champion’s performance so far in 2010.

Four races into 41-year-old Schumacher’s F1 comeback at the wheel of a Mercedes, the critique of pundits has ranged from a verdict of disappointment to a harsh denigration of his skills after three years of retirement.

“I find all the talk about Michael a bit tedious, because it is always with a negative slant,” 10-time GP winner Berger, who raced in Schumacher’s era until retiring in 1997, said on Austrian TV ‘Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar 7′.

“Michael has come back and is doing what he wants.  I think you cannot change the status of someone who is a seven time world champion,” added the 50-year-old former Ferrari and McLaren driver.

Austrian Berger backs Schumacher to improve his pace in the forthcoming races.

“We know his ambition.  We know that if he does something, he does it right.  I think we must take him seriously again in the future,” he said.

After the initial three races of 2010, Berger admits that Schumacher’s performance in China was a setback.

“It was weak, but that can happen,” said the former teammate of the late F1 great Ayrton Senna.

“I think he has done an excellent job so far — except for the last race.  In the first three grands prix he was in the top six of the championship.  That is a great achievement,” added Berger.

Also defending Schumacher is his countryman and friend Sebastian Vettel, who until the great German’s struggle in 2010 was nicknamed by the German press ‘Baby-Schumi’.

“He is yet to exhaust the potential of his car and will therefore get better from a driving point of view from race to race,” the Red Bull driver told Switzerland’s Motorsport Aktuell.

“I wouldn’t write him off for a long time,” added 22-year-old Vettel.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil also sees nothing odd about Schumacher’s comeback to date.

“I had counted on it being difficult for him.  Formula one has changed to the extremes in the past few years so that you can lose half a second and not know exactly why,” he told spox.com.

“Plus it would have been funny if Schumacher had beaten us all after three years of being retired — then he really would have been the god of F1.

“That doesn’t mean he’s doing badly; on the contrary, he’s always in the top ten.  He only needs time,” added Sutil.