Red Bull to take tactical option of starting Sebastian Vettel from Abu Dhabi pitlane

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP from the pitlane.

Although Vettel's demotion is first and foremost a dramatic twist in the title race, there is one other matter to consider: namely, that of Vettel's reputation. The German has been dogged in recent weeks by a series of snipes that he is only capable of prospering as a frontrunner courtesy of Adrian Newey's genius designs. Whilst his starting circumstances of Sunday's race will be anything but ideal, they will at least offer Sebastian a golden opportunity to silence a vocal element of his critics. "If he manages to get into the points tomorrow then that would be a great achievement," added Horner. "There's no reason why Sebastian can't salvage something from tomorrow." We shall see.