The Red Bull Racing team have found themselves playing a dangerous blame game in the fallout from the crash between Sebastian Vettel and his team mate Mark Webber at the Turkish Grand Prix ruined their hopes of a 1-2 result.
The clash came on lap 41 of the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul as Vettel tried to pass long-time race leader Webber. The two Red Bull cars made contact, with Vettel ending up being pitched into retirement. Webber salvaged third place after a front wing change to keep hold of his championship lead.
But the caffeinated team is now being consumed by a need to pin the blame for the accident on one of their drivers, after the cardinal F1 sin of team mates eliminating each other gifted the rival McLaren team a 1-2 finish in the race.
After the race, Webber felt that Vettel had been to blame for the clash, saying in the press conference that Vettel had turned across into him, but downplaying the significance of the shunt for the team overall.
"Seb had good a top speed advantage and he went down the inside. We were side by side and then looks like he turned pretty quickly to the right and we made contact," Webber muttered.
"It definitely happened fast. It's a shame for the team, but not an ideal day. The McLarens were solid today. It was good race between all four of us up until then.
"Neither want to make contact but it can happen sometimes when both are in front. It is never ideal but it happened."
It was a view that was not shared by Vettel, who insisted after the race that the collision had not been his fault.
"Obviously, I think if you look at the pictures it was clear I had the inside," Vettel grouched, "I went on the inside, I was ahead and just going down to focus on the braking point and honestly, you can see we touched and he touched my right rear wheel and I went off."
He, though, also shrugged off questions as to whether the crash will have a lasting impact on his working relationship with Webber.
"There is no fight," the German bellowed, "This is something that happens. We do not need it but there is nothing we can do now. Obviously I am not very happy, I was inside focusing on the braking point, we touched and that was it."
Team boss Christian Horner pointed out after the race that he was "disappointed" by the crash, but later explained that the incident had come about because Webber had been forced to switch to fuel-saving mode one lap earlier than Vettel, giving the German driver a one lap window to attack the Australian.
"Mark had changed down into a fuel saving mode that cost him a little bit of performance on the straights, which also explains how Sebastian got a very clear run on him," Horner smugged.
"The large mistake remains that not enough room was given, and the explanation is there on how Sebastian had managed to get into the tow. He had managed to save an extra kilogramme of fuel - as both cars start the race with the same amount of fuel."
He refused to single out one of the drivers to blame, but said that he was unhappy that neither driver had given the other enough room to race.
"I think Mark put Sebastian on the dirty side, gave him just enough room and Sebastian came across obviously quite aggressively - but he was quite a long way down the side," he grimaced.
"So, it was very, very frustrating. We saw the McLarens racing each other and giving themselves a bit more room, we've seen drivers racing each other previously in Malaysia - which springs to mind as a recent race and they are usually very, very good at giving each other room. Today, for whatever reason, that didn't happen."
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, though, seemed to be more understanding to Vettel's situation than Webber's.
"It wasn't a situation where we were racing each other," Marko grouched, "We were under enormous pressure from the McLarens – they were much faster on the straights so we had to gain our advantage in the corners.
"[Vettel] had to attack otherwise he would have got overtaken by Hamilton – it would have been completely different if the McLarens were 10-seconds behind, but that wasn't the case.""
He added that: "He [Vettel] was already ahead, at least two metres ahead, and there was a corner to the left side coming, so he had to go for the line. He cannot brake on the dirt because for sure he knows what happens.
"But it was unnecessary the whole situation. We will talk with everybody quite clearly to make it not happen again."
He added that the Red Bull oligarch Dietrich Mateschitz was "not amused" by the events in Turkey.
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