F1: Horner - Red Bull Has To Attack In Austin

Formula 1

F1: Horner - Red Bull Has To Attack In Austin

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was pleased that Sebastian Vettel gave up only three points to Fernando Alonso in Abu Dhabi...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 06, 2012 Abu Dhabi (ARE)

Christian Horner (Pictured) remains cautious regarding Sebastian Vettel’s title prospects. (Photo: Getty Images)

Red Bull Christian Horner says that Red Bull has to go to Austin in an aggressive mode in order to secure the World Championship.

Sebastian Vettel managed to charge into third place in Abu Dhabi, just behind his title rival, and Horner admits he was relieved to lose only three points to Fernando Alonso, having feared that the damage might have been a lot worse.

“We know how consistent Fernando has been this year,” said Horner after the Abu Dhabi race. “And it was entirely predictable that starting sixth on the grid he was going to be on the podium.

“And so you had mentally got an image of him taking between 15 and 25 points out of us today, so to limit that damage to only three and finish behind him is a remarkable recovery. A great drive by Sebastian. Anybody that doubted that he’s a racer, I think he’s showed world class today.”

Although he remains cautious regarding Vettel’s title prospects, Horner concedes that the constructors’ title is almost in the bag.

“There’s 50 available. We go in plus 10,” he said of Vettel’s prospects in Austin. “The constructors’ is looking great. Hopefully, we can score five points over the next two races, but with the drivers, as we’ve seen this weekend when you’re on the edge, things can go wrong.

“We can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to go to Austin and attack the weekend. It’s a new track for everybody, and we’ve got to go there and get a good result.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.