Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber descend into F1 civil war• Vettel wins in Malaysia after overtaking team-mate
• Christian Horner says world champion ignored orders
Red Bull's Mark Webber said he was considering his future after his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, robbed him of victory in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix in defiance of orders from the team principal, Christian Horner.
Webber was leading with 10 laps to go when Vettel, ignoring instructions from Horner for both drivers to hold their positions, attacked. Horner warned: "This is silly, Seb. Come on!" The team-mates came close to colliding around several turns before Vettel, the world champion, overtook for his 27th grand prix win, equalling Jackie Stewart's total.
The incident has reopened a civil war at Red Bull. A furious Webber refused to join the post-race celebrations and had earlier given Vettel an unambiguous finger salute from behind the wheel after being overtaken.
Webber said: "It's three weeks to the next race – we are fortunate we have three weeks. I will catch some waves in Australia with my board and I think this will be good medicine for me.
"But there were a lot of things in my mind in the last 15 laps of the grand prix, to be honest, so whether the medicine is enough we will see."
The likely outcome, following an apology from Vettel and peace moves from Horner, is that Webber will stay. But an already strained relationship has been further damaged and Webber may decide to quit at the end of the year.
Vettel said after Red Bull's 13th one-two result: "I messed up today. I apologise for that. I am the black sheep."
He then seemed to suggest he had not heard Horner's instructions when he said: "I want to say the truth. I wasn't aware of it, otherwise I wouldn't take such a risk to pass someone I wasn't supposed to pass at that moment.
"Just before we got out on the podium I had a very quick word and it was quite a shock – not easy for me to admit, but that's the truth. I want to stick to the truth."
There was also an apology from Lewis Hamilton for his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg. Hamilton, who lost six seconds when he mistakenly pulled into his old McLaren bay for a tyre change at the end of the seventh lap before being waved on, took third place but only after the team principal, Ross Brawn, had told fourth-placed Rosberg to back off.
But it was the Red Bull row that dominated proceedings, especially in view of the two drivers' clashes in 2010 when both were challenging for the world title. The animosity between the pair had been apparent from the 28th lap when Vettel, second behind his team-mate, complained over the radio: "Mark is too slow, get him out of the way." He was told to be patient but was anything, going past Webber later.
Horner said: "I've spoken to both drivers and Sebastian has apologised to both Mark and the team. From our point of view as soon as that last pit stop was completed the instruction was given to both cars effectively to hold position. At that point Sebastian has chosen to ignore that.
"The driver is thinking about 25 points and we are thinking about the 43 points and we just want to close the result off.
"Obviously it wasn't right what he did, he accepts that, clearly said if he could wind the clock back he wouldn't do it again. That's the way it is. We need to put it behind us and move on."
Horner added: "Seb felt that he hadn't heard the call. And it was unclear to him what the instruction was. He's chosen to hear what he wants to hear. He's a racing driver, he's competitive, he's hungry, hasn't achieved the champs he has by not pushing the limits and he's pushed that today with his team-mate and the team."
Horner, though, seemed happy enough with the one-two result when he said: "We employ these guys because they are competitive, they push each other and they are very driven individuals.
"If one was submissive to the other it's not what we want in a racing driver. Of course its uncomfortable for the team but we managed to convert the 43 points and it shouldn't mar what was a fantastic team performance today."
There are likely to be further talks between all parties before Red Bull move on, and the driving pairing is likely to continue in harness. But it will not be easy. Horner concluded: "Seb and Mark have been a pairing for five years and won three consecutive championships together.
"They are one of the most successful pairings of all time. For sure, they've never been the best of mates and they are never going to spend Christmas together. There is a respect between the two of them and I am sure with a little bit of time to reflect we will quickly move on from this."
Webber was clearly bitter when he said: "The team told me the race was over and I turned my engine down. Seb made his own decision and he will have protection as usual.
"It's still very raw at the moment because we had a plan before the race – as we do for most grands prix – in a certain scenario. It puts a lot of heat on certain people for sure. Inevitably it does, because unfortunately there is no rewind button."
Vettel said the furore had soured his victory and there was a similar vein to Hamilton's remarks after he took third place only because Mercedes prevented Rosberg from overtaking him.
Hamilton said: "I don't feel great at the moment. Nico deserves to be in the position I am in. He drove a much smarter race. I said to Ross at the end that I wanted to let him past. He said: 'Absolutely not. When I tell you what I want to do, you have to stick by it.' So I am glad I stuck by it and that I didn't get in trouble with Ross. Hats off to Nico – he did a fantastic job and he was driver of the day for me."
McLaren reacted to Hamilton's pit-lane gaffe by tweeting: "Feel free to pop in and say 'Hi' any time @lewishamilton."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/mar/24/sebastian-vettel-mark-webber
