Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner admits that the chances are high of Sebastian Vettel receiving a ten-place grid penalty for an engine chance later this season. The German lost two Renault powerplants in Valencia at the weekend and now has the same number remaining for the rest of the season before penalties will begin to kick in.

"Four engine failures with Vettel (in 2009) - it's almost inevitable that we will have an engine penalty somewhere, which is very frustrating," Horner told the press in the aftermath of Sunday's European Grand Prix. "We will just need to manage that and think strategically about the right time to take that penalty."
Source: GPUpdate

Red Bull Racing has ruled out introducing its KERS system at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, although the team is yet to decide if it will use it in other races.

Christian Horner admitted that racing KERS at Spa could prove distracting, although he claimed Red Bull will still consider using it at the Italian Grand Prix.

"Spa is not so different to Silverstone and we had a strong car there, so to introduce KERS at this stage could only be disruptive," said Horner.

"We will make a decision for Monza after Spa. It would be the Renault/Red Bull KERS one that was developed at the beginning of the season. We will continue to look at it."
Source: Autosport

Sebastian Vettel - DNF: “The biggest problem today was the first stop - we weren’t able to get fuel in the car, so we had to come in again. We were lucky to make it back for a second stop. The race was lost already at that point but then, a couple of laps on, I had a problem with the engine and I had to retire. It’s not good. In terms of the Championship, I will fight until the last breath, but it’s not good to have retired when you’re hunting and want to get more points than your opponent. You’re in a position to do it, but then you don’t finish the race.”

Renault has apologised to Red Bull Racing for the brace of engine failures that Sebastian Vettel suffered over the Valencia weekend.

Renault’s Fabrice Lom, who oversees trackside support for the French manufacturer’s customer programme, took full responsibility for the failures.

“This race ended a nightmare weekend for us,” he said.

“We had two engine failures on Sebastian’s car, so it’s a black weekend.

“I can only apologise to Red Bull Racing and Sebastian in particular for this reliability issue and assure them that we will work as hard as possible to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Source: ITV

1 R. Barrichello
2 L. Hamilton
3 K. Raikkonen

DNF S. Vettel

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2009Sebastian Vettel has warned that he cannot afford any more engine failures after losing another one of his eight unit allocation for the season in free practice on Saturday.

The Red Bull driver had already brought six of his engines into play when he suffered the failure, leaving him with just two fresh ones to deploy during the final six races of the season.

Although teams regularly swap their engines around and are able to bring back powerplants that have been used before, Vettel could face having to take a ten-place grid penalty at the first event where he brings a ninth unit into play. He is understood already to have lost at least one other Renault engine to a failure.

"From now on, there is no room for any more failures or mistakes," said Vettel when asked by AUTOSPORT how concerned he was about his engine allocation.

"I can't change anything now. Of course, if you want to win the championship it is not a good thing towards the end of the season because it will get tight. How tight, we will see."

Despite being pleased with the progress that Red Bull made between Friday practice and qualifying, Vettel fears that the resurgence of McLaren-Mercedes will make it harder to chase down Jenson Button and Brawn in the championship.

He also pointed to the McLaren KERS as a major factor in the team's speed.

"If there is someone who is taking big points, it's not easy to catch up when you are hunters like us," said Vettel. "But let's see what happens tomorrow. Fourth on the grid is not a disaster and no-one has scored any points yet.

"On this circuit last year everyone was close - for instance Force India is not far off. It's not a secret that if you have something on board [like KERS] that is worth three of fourth tenths, the rest cannot find a part that gives that much of a jump."