‘Honest’ Vettel no ‘smiling boy’ after losing

Sebastian Vettel remains unapologetic after insulting his rival Narain Karthikeyan.

The reigning world champion twice showed Indian Karthikeyan the middle finger in Malaysia recently, also describing the HRT driver as an “idiot” and “gherkin” following their on-track clash.

Karthikeyan hit back by calling the 24-year-old German “unprofessional” and a “crybaby”, amid suggestions Vettel did not display sporting values befitting a double world champion.

Indeed, when asked by Germany’s Sport Bild if he is a ‘bad loser’, Vettel replied: “It’s true, I can only lose badly.

“Why should I lie?  If I could lose well, I would not be in formula one.  I was disappointed.”

But the Red Bull driver also insists his outbursts should be taken in the context of the moment.

“So soon after the race, I feel like I should be honest rather than playing the ‘smiling boy’.

“Sometimes it takes ten minutes after finishing a race to return to normal, sometimes you need a night’s sleep to check things off and look ahead positively.

“When I put Jenson Button out of the race at Spa in 2010, I apologised to him the next day.”

So, Vettel is much more positive now.

“From a pure sporting perspective, I have more points now than I had at this point in 2010 when I won the championship.  So I’m only looking forward,” he insisted.

© RIF | GMM