Although Red Bull were bitterly disappointed to see Sebastian Vettel retire from the European Grand Prix with an alternator failure, Team Principal Christian Horner is confident that the overall RB8 package remains strong enough to challenge at the front.
Until the Safety Car was deployed in Valencia, after which Vettel duly broke down, the German had held a leading advantage of over 20 seconds.
“We were in a commanding position, so it was very disappointing to have a DNF,” Horner is quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
“Together with Renault I'm sure we'll learn from it and hopefully we will not see a repeat. The comfort we must take out of Seb's performance was that he was in complete control and had tremendous pace. We know we have a quick car and we have had three poles from the last three races - and that is encouraging.”
Furthermore, Horner is convinced that the likes of Fernando Alonso – who has retaken the Drivers’ Championship lead – will soon hit trouble.
“Fernando has done a tremendous job, scoring in every single race, but statistics say he has to have one bad weekend in 20,” the Englishman continues. “It will hopefully balance itself out over the course of the season. Others had difficult days as well – Lewis (Hamilton) did not finish - but we have extended our lead in the Constructors' Championship by a further eight points.”
Valencia marked the first time since Korea 2010 that Vettel had retired from the lead because of an engine-related problem; Alonso won on that occasion as well.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:44:16.649 |
| 2. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +6.421 |
| 3. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +12.639 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +13.628 |
| 5. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +19.993 |
| 6. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +21.176 |
| 7. | P. di Resta | Force India | +22.866 |
| 8. | J. Button | McLaren | +24.653 |
| 9. | S. Perez | Sauber | +27.777 |
| 10. | B. Senna | Williams | +35.961 |
| Full results | |||
| Sebastian Vettel | |||
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| More Sebastian Vettel photos | |||
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