Christian Horner says Sebastian Vettel-Mark Webber rivalry is healthy for Red Bull

Christian Horner has insisted the antipathy between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber amounts to a "healthy rivalry" and intimated the open animosity between the 'warring' Red Bull team-mates has been a driving force behind the World Champions' ongoing success.

Not yet they don't. For all of Horner's deftness and refusal to shy away from confronting his critics head on, the rancour continues to fester, with Vettel's public popularity suffering a hefty dent and Webber's retention for 2014 distinctly improbable. Perhaps tellingly, Horner was unable to offer any assurances that the Australian would be offered a contract extension in the wake of the Sepang controversy. "Sebastian is on a long-term contract so he is committed to the team," confirmed Horner. "Mark's contract has been renewed on an annual basis over the last three or four years and that is something we intend to address in the same way this year. "Emotions are still raw after events in Malaysia and we won't make any decisions until later in the summer when we'll make a decision with Mark, but after just two races it's far too early for us to contemplate what our driver line-up will be for 2014." For all of the Red Bull boss's brave and clever words about healthy rivalries, history isn't shy in providing compelling evidence that intra-team driver rivalries of the type Webber and Vettel's has descended to are far more likely to end in mutual destruction rather than sustained long-term success. Something - or rather, someone - has to give, and no prizes for guessing who is the likeliest fall guy.