Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko is of the opinion that backmarkers, particularly Marussia and HRT, aren’t doing enough to get out of the way of the lead cars.
His comments come after Sebastian Vettel made contact with Narain Karthikeyan during the Malaysian Grand Prix, resulting in the German dropping from sixth to 11th with a puncture.
Marko revealed to Servus TV that he has asked Red Bull’s team manager to speak to both teams to request they ‘pay more attention’.
“We have told our team manager to talk to both Marussia and Hispania about getting their drivers to simply pay more attention,” said the 68-year-old.
“They are driving in another league, they’re six or eight seconds slower, and so they need to watch out more than they do.
“Those are 12 points Vettel lost that could be crucial in the world championship,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Austrian has also defended Vettel’s actions during and after the race when he displayed his middle finger to Karthikeyan and then called him an idiot in the post-race interviews.
“You’ve just been in a race, you’ve seen the chance of possibly a third place go away — you’re naturally upset because he’s a human as well.
“I think we can understand an emotional reaction like that.”
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