28/06/2011
NEWS STORY
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Red Bull boss Christian Horner has revealed just how on the ball world championship leader Sebastian Vettel really is.
While sections of the media insist that Sunday's snorefest in Valencia was just a slight blip in an otherwise excellent season - admit it, Monaco and Montreal did spoil us - we learn that one person who was watching the race on TV with a keen interest was race leader Sebastian Vettel.
Apparently, Vettel wasn't informed when teammate Webber made the switch to the prime (medium) tyres during Sunday's race, the team concerned that the news would cause the world champion to push even harder. However, shortly after, the German enquired what times his teammate was posting, clearly aware of the switch.
"He never ceases to surprise us," said Christian Horner, according to the Daily Star. "At one point we hadn't told him we had put the prime tyres on Mark's car because we didn't want him to push any harder. But then he came on the radio and said, 'What time is Mark doing on the primes?' We all looked at ourselves and thought, 'Who told him?'
"Of course, he was watching the big TV screen as he was going round," the Englishman continued, "and he has the capacity to take that in. He's always thinking, which is one of his major strengths."
Horner warned that despite the youngster's 77 point advantage in the Drivers' Championship, there is little likelihood of him easing off.
"At the end of the day he's a perfectionist," he said. "He analyses his own performance more than anybody. He wants to win. He's very focused and his mindset is all about the 25 points. Our focus is race by race, to go and maximise our performance to get the best out of each weekend we can.