F1 News: Christian Horner reveals Red Bull drivers made up after UNUSUAL intervention

Horner, Red Bull Racing, Silverstone — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Legends

Horner reveals Red Bull F1 drivers made up after UNUSUAL intervention

The pair were forced to partake in an off-track activity

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 16 January 2024 09:57

Christian Horner has revealed that he forced Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to visit Great Ormond Street children's hospital after their crash at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix.

The pair's championship battle in that particular season was fierce, with them both driving for Red Bull and attempting to keep the likes of Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren behind them.

At the Turkish GP, tensions boiled over as Vettel came up behind Webber, who was leading the race.

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Vettel collided with his team-mate, leaving the German in the gravel, and Webber out of contention for the race victory.

After the incident, team principal Horner was noticeably agitated at the fact that his drivers were not able to convert what should have been a simple one-two finish for the team.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber collided at the Turkish GP in 2010

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel shared a complicated relationship at Red Bull

Vettel and Webber make up

Now, Horner has revealed the unusual way in which he dealt with the pair, citing their need to stop fighting each other and work towards the common goal of winning the constructors' championship.

“Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel was an interesting combination because Mark was in the latter stages of his career; very competitive Australian grizzly racer that would use every tool within his toolkit to try and move the spotlight onto him," he told the Secrets of Success podcast.

“He had a much younger team-mate, slightly naive at that point in his career, but hugely talented Sebastian Vettel.

“It was interesting at the beginning of the 2010 championship where suddenly the drivers have both got a car that's capable of fighting for the world championship and suddenly their needs or their personal demands are becoming disproportionate to the team's.

“They were, first and second in a race [and] ended up crashing into each other. And so the team has given away maximum points to our biggest rivals at that period of time.

Sebastian Vettel won four world championships in a row at Red Bull

“So I felt it right that to take them out of their comfort zone, and to explain to them and to show them that they're there to perform a role and that their self interest shouldn't be greater than the team and I think to realise that actually, they're in a hugely privileged position and when they start complaining about how life's been treating them hard and this and that and the other.

"Actually, to go and spend the morning in Great Ormond Street and see some of the challenges that those young kids are going through and the parents that are powerless in many respects, the emotions that they're going through is is pretty grounding.

"And I think just adds a perspective that ‘Okay, we're in a very privileged position’. I think it was something that I felt was just important to bring them back to ground at that juncture in time.”

Red Bull Christian Horner Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber