Red Bull chief says time lost lapping driver set up Hamilton pass
Sunday 18 November 2012 23:20, UK
Christian Horner has blamed HRT's Narain Karthikeyan for costing Sebastian Vettel what he believes would have been a victory in the U.S. GP
Horner himself later name-checked the Indian driver directly during a second interview with Sky Sports F1 in which he was asked if the team might be left to rue incidents such as that one if Vettel doesn't clinch the title in Brazil next week. "It's difficult. We're sitting here with a 13-point lead in the drivers' championship and we take that lead into Brazil and it's all about what happens in that race," he added. "But you have to look at that season as a whole and we've had ups and downs. "Karthikeyan has helped us on occasion and not on others. You have to look at the season in its entirety rather than picking out individual single moments because each team up and down the pit lane I'm sure can do that." It is the second time this season that Red Bull have held Karthikeyan responsible for damaging Vettel's race following an incident which slashed the German's tyre back in Malaysia. Although second place still ensured Vettel increased his points advantage over Fernando Alonso to 13, a win would have nonetheless meant that his Ferrari rival would have had to win at Interlagos next Sunday - irrespective of what Vettel did - to have any chance of the title. Analysing the Karthikeyan incident on the SkyPad, Davidson said that, with only one racing line through the high-speed turns, the HRT was painfully slow for Vettel and allowed Hamilton to line him up for the following DRS zone. "They were both catching Karthikeyan through the Esses," he explained. "We talked about this earlier in the week how if you catch a car coming into the high-speed Esses there is no way a car in front can get out of the leaders' way, and that's exactly what happened. "Lewis was a close as he was getting behind Vettel but, as they went through the Esses, Vettel gets right up to Karthikeyan round Turn Six, there's no where he can go, Karthikeyan's not getting out of the way until later round Turn Seven. "Vettel doesn't know where to go, he dives down the inside, and it's basically given Lewis the chance to overtake like there was a safety car or something. "When they head down to the DRS zone Lewis is much closer to Vettel, sensing an opportunity, and onto the straight he gets past."
