Horner, Brazilian Grand Prix "most stressful ever"

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has labelled the Brazilian Grand Prix the "most stressful race" in his career.

(c) Octane Photographic

Both of his drivers experienced set backs during the race, with a lot riding on Sebastian Vettel's result. Mark Webber dropped down the field after contact with Kobayashi, but stormed through to claim fourth place.

 

However all eyes were on Sebastian Vettel as he went for a third consecutive world championship. The German had a slow start to the race and fell back. This resulted in a collision with Bruno Senna as the field bunched up for turn four. He was spun around, suffering damage to the left hand side of his Red Bull. Vettel stormed through the field, benefiting from a mid race safety car and performing some brave moves.

He eventually crossed the line in sixth place, taking the championship crown by just three points. Horner admitted it was the most stressful race of his career as the Red Bull Boss.
"I can't think of a more stressful race than that race,"

"I mean, it had everything going on in it. From the first lap, with Seb getting turned around – and thankfully the rest of the field missed him. It did quite a lot of damage to the floor and the exhaust on the left-hand side. But then he got himself going again. His pace in the damp was unbelievable.

"He got himself going, and then came back through the field to get the ultimate position. He was up to about sixth or seventh and just kept pushing and getting himself back in there, and then the rain came, so we went on to inters. Then the rain stopped, so we went back onto the harder tyre.

"I think as the circuit dried out it became more obvious the problems he had were affecting the balance of the car. And then we needed to change tyres because basically there was no way he would have got to the end on that set.

"By this point we lost radio and we couldn't hear him any more. He pitted, went out on the softer tyre at the end, and then the rain started to increase significantly, so we had to get him back in.

"He said he couldn't hear what we were saying and we weren't ready for him. And then it was a question of closing out those final laps."

He also revealed that Red Bull's sole focus for the weekend was themselves, now shadowing Ferrari. "We spoke about that before the race and made it quite clear, let's not be sucked into just covering Ferrari because the race wasn't just about Ferrari, it was about getting the best result and let's try and make the right calls at the right time.

"I think by and large we did that today. I think the only thing that got us into a bit of difficulty was because of the degradation after the damage to the car and when the circuit dried out.

"We had to stop, and it was too dry for inters, but in a lap or two, it was too wet for slicks, so we had to stop again. So that was the trickiest moment in the race."