Sebastian Vettel’s red-mist minutes are caused by an executioner impulse that implies he is incidentally arranged to “win no matter what”, says Christian Horner.
The Ferrari man is on a last cautioning from governing body the FIA after two ‘road rage’ occurrences in seven months.
“Sebastian wears his heart on his sleeve,” said Red Bull boss Horner.
“He is involved in a very intense battle. He sees an opportunity to be champion again this year and he knows he’s going to need everything going his way against Mercedes to achieve that.
“He has zero filter between what he thinks and what he says or does sometimes. That’s the great side of him. But sometimes it gets him in hot water as well.”
Vettel, 30, slammed wheels with Lewis Hamilton in Azerbaijan a month ago and swore at race executive Charlie Whiting over the radio in Mexico last October.
“Ferrari are an emotional team – Latin origins – it probably fuels that emotion,” Horner said.
“That’s not to say it’s a bad thing. It shows he’s human at the end of the day and shows how hungry he is to achieve that ultimate goal.
“[Ferrari president Sergio] Marchionne has his own style of management. He’s quite a full-on character, quite outspoken. And the demeanour of a team comes from the top. The people who lead the team set the tempo.
“You can feel Ferrari is a high-pressure place, particularly at this period of time.”
Horner said he felt Vettel could have been all the more seriously rebuffed for crashing into Hamilton in Baku, a demonstration spurred by the German’s wrong conviction that the Mercedes driver had ‘brake-tried’ him.
Vettel was given a 10-second unpredictable punishment however Horner said authorities could have excluded him for the episode.
“Sebastian has this huge desire within him,” Horner said. “The records mean a lot to him. Michael Schumacher was very much his idol and I think what you see that bubbles over sometimes is that killer instinct of, ‘I want to win’. Sometimes at all costs.
“It comes across as spoilt but I think you’ve got to put yourself in his scenario, in his shoes. He has lifted Ferrari from where it was to where it is now and he has been a big driver in that.”
