‘The move was, frankly, pants’
Wooden Spoon winner,
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has apologised to former driver Sebastian Vettel on behalf of Daniil Kvyat after the pair collided for a second successive race in Russia last weekend.
The pair again made contact on the opening lap in Sochi, after Vettel had publicly criticised the Russian’s attempted move at the first corner in the previous race at China.
This time Red Bull racer Kvyat hit Vettel’s Ferrari twice. First they collided into Turn 2 when Kvyat claimed his rear brakes locked and he ploughed into the German – which sent him into the path of the other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.
Then Kvyat again hit Vettel at Turn 3 when he said the Ferrari appeared to slow unexpectedly. Kvyat’s actions led to Vettel speaking to Horner during the race, after the Ferrari ended up in the barriers.
“He said hello and made his thoughts well known,” Horner said of their conversation. “All I could do was apologise to him. It’s cost us a lot of points and unfortunately compromised Sebastian as well. But he [Kvyat] is young, he’ll learn from it and I’m sure he’ll come back strong in Barcelona.” Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said his driver went ballistic after the incident, with the German launching a foul-mouthed tirade on team radio. “He was not happy at all,” said Arrivabene. “He has taken a DNF for a second time [this season] for something that has nothing to do with him. This is the character of a guy who is a four-time world champion who wants to win. It’s understandable.
“Afterwards, we talked and he was a bit more calm, but of course calm does not mean happy.”
Kvyat said he will learn from what happened on the opening lap: “All the mess came from me. It’s not great but sometimes these things happen from lap one. It’s probably not the nicest lap one in my career, I will learn from it and should be all fine next time.”