Christian Horner has leapt to the defence of Sebastian Vettel as the fall-out following his comments on the 2014 engine sound take a sinister twist.

Following the German's claim that he feels the new engines sound like "s**t", and totally uninspiring compared to the sounds of F1 when he was a child, there has been talk in the paddock of the world champion facing a possible charge of bringing the sport into disrepute.

Though the FIA strongly denies any such move, some sections of the media claim that Jean Todt is unhappy with the language used by the German and is preparing to give him a "talking to".

Bad language raised its head last year when Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were both censured after swearing during the podium interviews in Abu Dhabi.

However, some suggest that any action taken against Vettel wouldn't have anything to do with bad language or even criticism of the 2014 regulations, but instead serve as a warning shot across the bows of Red Bull ahead of its appeal against its disqualification in Australia.

Horner was quick to deny claims that Vettel or the team had been contacted by Todt.

"No-one's spoken to me about it over the weekend," he insisted.

"He should be applauded for saying what he thinks," he continued. "Sebastian has expressed his opinion and I don't think anyone would blame a driver for making an opinion. He's not alone. There are different opinions and he's entitled to his."

If this is merely about bad language and nothing more sinister, will the FIA be considering taking action against the sport's so-called boss, Bernie Ecclestone?

Other than constantly criticising the new regulations, during a TV interview on Friday, when asked about the sound of the new engines, while admitting that they are not as bad as he feared, Ecclestone said: "If we can just get it up a little more than that then it would be alright..."

Adding, moments later, with a mischievous grin: "I wish I could get it up."

Surely if the FIA is to claim that the use of the word 's**t' constitutes bringing the sport into disrepute, what does it consider the effect of Carry On-style crudity?

Or is it a case of one rule for them...?

Talking of Carry-On, surely Daniel Ricciardo's new motto must be.. "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!"

Chris Balfe

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by spectrum, 03/04/2014 15:35

"Not a Vettel fan, however his opinion is spot on. F1 engines have now given a new meaning to the term noise pollution. For 49 years all my senses were stimulated positively by F1. This year the engine sound changed that, a fix needs to be addressed."

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2. Posted by Kkiirmki, 31/03/2014 22:12

"Is this the biggest problem facing F1 at the moment?"

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3. Posted by markscottuk, 31/03/2014 17:09

"I guess language will be linked to the penalty points system:

S**t, Bl**dy - 1 point
P**s, t**t - 2 points
B******s, b****r, w****r - 3 points
f**k, c**t - 4 points"

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4. Posted by Spindoctor, 31/03/2014 14:01

"In addition to this terrible misdemeanour I'm hoping that FIA will also look into his use of the word "Bloody" in a BBC interview. This was so shocking that Suzi [sic] Perry was forced to apologise to us for it.

The foul-mouthed cad should be thrown out of the sport for such usages!!!"

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Horner defends Vettel in swearing row

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