In an explosive and quite extraordinary Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel brazenly disobeyed team orders to win the race from his incandescent Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.
The Australian had led after the final round of pit stops and the drivers were instructed to hold position until the end of the race, but Vettel passed Webber after the tensest of tussles with 13 laps remaining. Within Red Bull, the fallout from the duel was acrimonious and immediate.
Vettel, the triple world champion, waited in the podium green room with Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey, who appeared to be sternly admonishing him. In the profoundly hostile press conference that followed, the German was candid in his admission: “I f—– up.”
He also described himself as the “black sheep” of his team. Lewis Hamilton took his maiden podium finish for Mercedes in third as stablemate Nico Rosberg was also controversially compelled to obey an order to stay behind. Seldom has the internecine warfare of two teams been played out so vividly or absorbingly.
The battle within the Red Bulls was drawn in a decisive scrap as Webber rejoined from his final pit stop. Vettel was warned by team principal Christian Horner that he was being “stupid”, but the two proceeded to fight one another wheel-to-wheel around Turns One and Two and finally, on Turn Four, Webber seemed finally to yield to the 25-year-old despite having the inside line.
Webber, demonstrating much chagrin, acknowledged that it had been a clear case of team orders. “After the last stop the team told me that the race was over and we turned the engines down and go to the end. The team made their decision. Seb made his own decision and he will have protection as usual.”
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h38m56.681s 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.298s 3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 12.181s 4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 12.640s 5. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 25.648s 6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 35.564s 7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 48.479s 8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 53.044s 9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1m12.357s 10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m27.124s 11. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault + 1m28.610s 12. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 13. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 14. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 16. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 3 laps 18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 5 laps