Vettel scorns team orders to rob Webber of victory
World champion apologises to grim-faced teammate for passing him late in race when Australian was under instructions to preserve tyres
Sebastian Vettel pulled no punches yesterday in a grovelling apology for unfairly overtaking Red Bull teammate Mark Webber to win the Malaysian Grand Prix, bluntly admitting: "I f***ed up."
The frank statement, during a tense press conference featuring both drivers, did little to appease the emotional Webber, who led into the closing stages and had been told by his team that he could cruise to victory with Vettel second.
Instead, Vettel ignored team orders and plunged past his teammate with a risky overtaking manoeuvre, snatching his 27th grand prix and denying Webber his 10th.
"I cannot say much more than I did a mistake, I'm not proud I did it. If I had the chance to do it again I would do it differently," Vettel said.
"When I came back I saw the team's reaction and I had a short word with Mark, it hit me quite hard that, language, I f***ed up."
However, Vettel, Formula One's youngest ever three-time world champion at 25, stopped short of pledging that he would make amends by handing a victory to Webber if given the chance.
For Webber, who has played second fiddle to Vettel as the 25-year-old German won the last three world championships, his teammate's behaviour was galling after orders were issued over the team radio.