Red Bull’s Christian Horner finds Ferrari's request to have Sebastian Vettel’s penalty at the Mexican Grand Prix reviewed “fairly strange” and thinks the Scuderia should just “shut the book on it and move on”.
Having been promoted to third in Mexico following a penalty handed to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the four-time world champion was then demoted to fifth for moving under braking against Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel said during Thursday’s FIA press conference at the Brazilian Grand Prix that he still disagreed with the stewards’ decision before Ferrari submitted its request to the FIA.
“I’m a bit surprised that it’s come about,” Horner told Sky Sports at the end of FP1 in Sao Paulo. “I don’t know what the new evidence is but it must be fairly compelling. Ferrari must think it’s fairly strong.”
An ironic Horner immediately added: “Maybe there’s some new evidence you never know that might come about Max’s penalty. Maybe we’ll get him back on the podium or maybe we’ll have another look on Monaco or some of the other races.
“It’s fairly strange to be going back like this. You shut the book on it, you have to accept what the referee’s decisions are and move on.”
Vettel’s penalty came after the FIA clamped down on moving under braking at the United States Grand Prix following previous incidents this year. These had involved Verstappen in his fights with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen in Hungary and Belgium, and Lewis Hamilton in Japan.
Horner feels the sport is becoming over-regulated with too many deterrents for drivers to engage in wheel-to-wheel battles.
“It’s almost that you have a rule that drivers are not allowed to race because we’re regulating so much,” the Red Bull team boss continued.
“And so much fuss has been made over Max’s moves that they may come up and they’re putting more regulations.
“And obvisouly they’ve applied these regulations and penalties have been given. I think the rules are too confusing for us competitors to know what is legal and what is not, let alone how on earth you convey that to the fans.”
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