agdamis

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have been told to pipe down following conspiracy claims regarding the Safety Car in Valencia.

Vettel appeared to be heading for his second win of the season at the European GP when the Safety Car was deployed midway through the race following Jean-Eric Vernge's collision with Heikki Kovalainen.

Things went horribly wrong for the reigning World Champion after that as he was forced to retire with an alternator problem a few laps after the race resumed.

Vettel and Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko both questioned the decision to deploy the Safety Car after the race, suggesting it was done to give the pack a chance to catch up.

"It just went to s**t," Vettel is quoted as telling Germany's Sky.

"I think it was clear to see that [until then] we were pulling away without problems.

"I think we could have been spared the Safety Car period, [but] I think the reason is clear. I don't think there was a danger. There were pieces on the track earlier [following the collision involving Bruno Senna and Kamui Kobayashi] and it was acceptable, [so] I think, in a sense, the safety car was to break our neck."

However, former Formula One driver Hans-Joachim Stuck has urged Vettel and Red Bull not to be bad losers.

"Sebastian Vettel came across as a bad loser," he wrote in his blog on Germany's Yahoo Eurosport.

"I don't think that slow driving behind the Safety Car can be the reason for the failure, otherwise all other 22 vehicles would have also failed. There must have been some other damage.

"If the Red Bull overheated during the Safety Car period, then there it was designed wrong. The cars have to be able to handle all temperatures."

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stuttgart46

I'm going with Stuck on this one. I like Vettel and I can appreciate his frustration but suck it up buttercup. Your alternator was going to fail regardless.

RajDatta

Renaults take on it is that the alternator would have gone sooner if there was no safety car. The safety car period helped the alternator cool down, hence prolonging its life.
Regards.

fanny bay r1

Alonso in Spain with Ferrari - yep ok maybe Vettle spoke out of turn but it's probably the truth!! Do ya think if Alonso was way out front there would have been a safety car -- not a chance in hell!!

agdamis

I was sure that the conspiracy theory was coming.

My friend despite how you feel about Alonso or Ferrari it does not change the fact that Vettel is acting like a high school girl not like two time World Champ. I am happy to help you find the point again.

dan212

F1 to Vettel:

Blow me

Carrera GT

Vettel is young and has a lot on the line. He's right to be a driver and focus on winning first, and be a diplomat second. He can adopt the elder statesman persona when the time comes. That aside, the increased time and heat and slow running could lead to a failure, but it's not what I'd call a realistic cause for complaint or to argue that the engine would not have failed otherwise.

The thing that really irks me is the labeling and suggestion of "bad loser" ... that's the inappropriate behavior in this story. The history of F1 is marred by good drivers that have acted like bad losers -- it's nothing new to the sport, but that's not to say it's welcome. Questioning the consistency of race operations that alter the outcome of a race is not bad sportsmanship.

The objective here should be a call for consistency and appropriate rules, instead of arbitrary decisions that will not be consistent from one incident to the next, let alone one race venue to the next. As for how to word those rules or actually bring about consistency ... that's another question that has dogged F1 in the modern era.

multi21

My thought on this is that he/they (RBR) shouldn't have said what they were actually thinking.... they just come off badly.

That said, I have to admit while watching the race that it was a little bit surprising that the safety car came out there as I've seen much much worse and the safety car was not deployed.

Would the alternator have gone out anyway? Grojean's did too, so there is a strong probability that it would.

Where I was truly shocked was when the safety car didn't come out when someone's car broke down just around a blind corner. I can't remember who's car it was, but everyone remembers it because the corner workers were pushing the car and the track marshalls were waving "GREEN" flags instead of yellow.

I honestly thought the marshals were going to get hit as they were just meters away from cars flying at full tilt around a blind corner.

Note that the above was during a time on track when Alonso was in the cat bird seat. Just calling it like I saw it.

Doug007

Bitching about the safety car is pointless. His 20 second lead would have evaporated all on it's own when his alternator gave up the ghost!

Had his alternator not failed he likely would have won the race. So who the hell cares about the safety car?

Renault F1 is saying the safety car prolonged the life of the alternator, not the other way around...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100770

Ritter v4.0

Yes. No JFK/second shooter conspiracy theories please.
Not with Alonzo driving a Ferrari in Spain within striking distance of the podium at the time.
Hey wait a second . . .

RajDatta

Look out, there are black helicopters following you. I would be careful what you type, lol.

fanny bay r1

Yep cause Alonso's never cheated -- oops sorry teammate pls crash right after I've done a strange pit stop. He's a great driver but I wouldn't trust the powers that be in F1 further than I could throw them!!

agdamis

I really did not want this to be a Alonso / Ferrari debate but on this forum I should have known that was not going to be the case.

The point was Vettel is a two time World Champ with a car that is showing tremendous pace he needs to start acting like one.

But as you started it, my opinion is that F1 is a business and it will favor what makes it more money so there will always be a certain skew, ultimately F1 has turned more into a circus than pure racing. Regarding Alonso's past you can believe what you want and we can debate for hours but at least he acts like a World Champ, Vettel is still a child.

morganabowen

9.5 Degrees

LOL. You must be new here. When Kurt Busch yelled at the NASCAR reporter, it was Alonso's fault. When the Supreme Court okayed the Obamacare package today, it was Alonso's fault. Get used to it.