NEWS // HORNER DEFENDS WEBBER OVER KOREAN GP CRASH

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has publically defended Mark Webber over the claim by Gerhard Berger that the Australian deliberately tried to take out another competitor in the aftermath of his recent race ending Korean GP shunt. The former F1 driver had claimed that he thought Webber's actions of crossing the track with a badly damaged car were deliberate and an attempt to collide with one of the Australian's World Championship rivals namely the following Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso. The 51yr old Austrian said ""Yes, I think that's very clear. He goes off and he knows it's over. In this moment you're frustrated and a thousand thoughts go through your head... [read more]

"It's very obvious, you can see his wheels are not locked up. Perhaps he had a brake problem, but I don't think so. He took out Rosberg but it was the wrong one. I think in his mind he would have preferred [his main rivals, Alonso or Hamilton."

Horner reacted angrily to the claims commenting "As with every incident in Formula One, opinions will always be made without all the facts. Just to be absolutely clear – Mark's intention was not to take out another driver after his crash in the Korean Grand Prix and it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

"After Mark's impact with the wall, it was clear on the TV and from the data that his car was badly damaged. However, the natural and immediate instinct of any competitive driver is not to give up and to keep going.

"In the atrocious conditions, Mark made the snap decision to continue as every driver would in that situation – it's absurd to suggest that Mark would ever deliberately take out another driver. Mark accepted immediate blame for this incident, which in itself deserves credit."

Photo/Editorial: Neil Tozer