Dejected Vettel calls for reliability push
Date published : 28 Mar 2010 - 10:20:45
A crestfallen Sebastian Vettel called on his Red Bull Racing team to take urgent steps to improve its reliability before it loses any more potential wins through mechanical problems.The young German led the first half of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix from pole position, but was pitched into the gravel and out of the race on lap 26.Vettel initially suspected a brake failure was to blame, but the team said in its post-race press release that the spin was caused by a problem with the left-front wheel.I felt that something was wrong one lap earlier than I went off, Vettel reported.I had some sparks coming up from the front-left wheel; we didn't know what it was and so wanted to pit.Then, a couple of corners before, I had huge vibrations building up. As soon as I touched the brakes, I had some sort of failure going in to turn 13 and ended up in the gravel.There was nothing I could have done: I lost the car and that was it.At the time the problem struck Vettel had a four-second lead over Jenson Button, and he is convinced he could have held off the McLaren for the remainder of the race.We had the race in total control, even though the conditions were very difficult, he said.But to finish first you have to finish.After a faulty spark plug cost him a likely win in the Bahrain season-opener a fortnight ago, Vettel admitted this latest disappointment was a crushing blow and urged the team to resolve its reliability woes before next weekend's race in Malaysia.It breaks my balls to be honest, he said.Obviously we're all pushing and trying to do our best.It's nobody's fault, but we need to get on top of it and [ensure] that we have a solid race and see the chequered flag in Malaysia.Team boss Christian Horner sympathised with Vettel.Ultimately an extremely disappointing day, he lamented.Having been in control of the race, the second in succession, Sebastian unfortunately retired with what looks like a wheel-related issue, which certainly cost him a comfortable race win today.It was cruel luck for him for the second year in a row here in Australia.
