Red Bull star Vettel’s title triumph was a victory for fair play

IT WAS a triumph for fair play and for the spirit of competition.

With the exception of Formula 1’s youngest champion Sebastian Vettel, the man who wore the broadest smile in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night was Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

This was a man vindicated for rigidly sticking to his principles and the philosophy of his team.

In the weeks building up to the denouement of an epic year, Horner found himself bombarded by one repeated question; will you favour one driver over the other?

The reason was simple; if Ferrari could resort to such tactics, why could Red Bull not pour all their energy into one man?

Ferrari opted to flout the rules in the 11th grand prix of the year in Germany, at a time when Felipe Massa was just 31 points behind teammate Fernando Alonso.

Ferrari showed no heart on a day they used a series of coded messages to instruct Massa allow Alonso claim victory, a year to the day after the Brazilian required life-saving surgery following an horrific accident in Hungary.

Sentiment can play no part in sport but this was a day when a team with the tradition and history of Ferrari displayed no compassion towards a driver who was almost killed wearing their colours.

The punishment for being found guilty of opting to nail their colours to Alonso’s mast was a measly €76,000.

But the seven additional points handed on a silver platter to Alonso proved a stigma right up until Sunday’s day of reckoning at the Yas Marina circuit. Horner, along with others including former FIA president Max Mosley, had suggested that an Alonso title would be tainted.

From third on the grid, with Vettel two places ahead of him and Red Bull teammate Mark Webber two places behind, all Alonso had to do was drive his car to the chequered flag.

Fate, however, chose to intervene, as the strategic minds on Ferrari’s pit wall contrived to produce the most bungled call of the year. Alonso wound up in seventh, finishing outside the top three for only the second time in nine races.

He and Ferrari had been beaten by a team that had chosen to play by the rules. There were no team orders from Red Bull as Horner had long insisted his organisation would show no favouritism.

But what about Webber’s perception that the team favoured Vettel? In Turkey, Webber was regarded within some quarters of Red Bull as the villain of a 50-50 crash with Vettel.

At the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, Webber appeared to be the victim when a new front wing was taken off his car and given to the young German. Webber’s subsequent victory drew a pointed remark over the team radio: “Not bad for a number two driver!”

Again, in the build up to Brazil, Webber claimed his challenge this year had been “inconvenient” for Red Bull, but Horner dismissed the comments, defiantly stating that the Australian had been treated equally over the course of the season.

So was it all in Webber’s mind, or was the supposed triumph for fair play not so fair after all? Until Webber writes his memoirs, we will never know what fuelled his belief that he played second fiddle. For now, we have to believe Red Bull played fair every with both of their drivers and that Vettel is a worthy world champion.