RBR may restrict Vettel’s practice time

Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull Racing is considering all options so as to avoid a grid penalty that could extinguish his world championship hopes.

After suffering two engines failures last weekend in Valencia, Vettel has now used six power plants this season out of the eight permitted by the rules.

Once drivers have used up their quota they incur a 10-place grid penalty for each additional unit used, and with six races remaining RBR team boss Christian Horner admitted last Sunday that it was “almost inevitable” that Vettel would have to use a ninth engine at some stage.

But speaking at Spa on Thursday, Vettel said the team is still examining whether it can avoid incurring such a costly penalty by keeping his practice mileage to a minimum.

Restricting practice laps would cost Vettel valuable set-up time, but the German suggested this might be a price worth paying if it prolongs the engine’s life.

“We need to see,” he said.

“Last weekend having two failures within two days was not a good thing.

“Surely it affects the programme for the rest of the season.

“The last thing we want is to take a penalty, so the question now is what can we do.

“We are considering now all our options and possibly this means less running for myself on a Friday, so less practice, which for sure is not an advantage.

“But in the end of the day do you want to take a grid penalty, yes or no?

“I think you know maybe it is better to have a bit of time off and take some coffee in the break rather than starting 10 places back at some race.”

Despite falling 25 points adrift of leader Jenson Button with his Valencia retirement, Vettel insists the title is not beyond reach just yet – pointing out that this season has taken many unexpected twists and turns.

“I think it is still possible,” he said.

“I am not giving up, definitely not.

“For sure 25 points is not easy but we have seen how quickly things can change.

“Also I think one thing that extremely helps is that Jenson has not been very consistent the last races.

“He hasn’t scored a lot of points. I don’t know what was wrong but in the end it helps us.”

Vettel conceded that Red Bull has let some key opportunities slip, but feels that it can still mount a late-season bid if it scores enough race victories.

“We should have been scoring some points the last few races and we did not,” he noted.

“So that doesn’t help but for the future it still remains open.

“We will push and we will fight. We are in the hunting position, so we will have to score big points.”

But he acknowledged that any more retirements would spell the end of his title challenge.

“For sure from now onwards we cannot have any mistakes or failures again,” he said. “That’s for sure.”

Source: ITV