“One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby”

Cast your mind back to the closing stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel, in fourth place, and Narain Karthikeyan, running second last, made contact. In the incident Vettel’s left rear tyre was punctured. His immediate response in the car was one of frustration and TV replays clearly showed him giving the bird to Karthikeyan.

The resultant pit stop pushed Vettel out of the top 10; no points. The 24-year-old dual world champion was not happy and he didn’t care who knew.

After reviewing replays, race stewards gave Karthikeyan a 20-second penalty, enough to relegate him to last place. A little harsh, we thought at the time, but that was the decision made. And that’s when the war of words started.

“As in real life, there are a few cucumbers on the road,” has become the accepted translation of what Vettel told German TV immediately after the race.

Happy to ensure nothing was lost in translation Vettel made the following comment to the BBC: “Like on normal roads, you have some idiots driving around. It seems there is also one driving here.”

After the race Karthikeyan defended himself telling reporters, “With Vettel, I got on to the marbles and the car had a lot of wheelspin. I had to jink to get out of it and unfortunately he was there.

“What else I could I do?”

Karthikeyan also added, “I won’t mention names but sometimes they overtake you and they want you to go off the road.

“With this car [HRT F112] it’s a big task to qualify and to finish is a big task. We’re a small team. We don’t want to be a hindrance but doesn’t give them the right to bully you. This is not right.”

Nico Rosberg sided with Karthikeyan saying it was “not Narain’s fault.” With a couple of nights sleep behind him, Karthikeyan went on the offensive.

“For a world champion to say things like that is really shameful,” he told the Hindustan Times.

“It is really unprofessional. For a driver who has achieved so much, to take out his frustrations on me just because he is having a difficult year is really sad,” added Karthikeyan.

“One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby.”

Vettel’s forthright comments also attracted criticism from Vitaly Petrov. The Russian driver shared his support for Karthikeyan with RIA Novosti.

“Vettel shouldn’t have said anything like that or showed him the finger,” Petrov said. “I understand that it’s the emotions, the race. You can understand situations like that, but you have to control yourself.”

The Caterham driver also made it clear he felt Karthikeyan was not at fault. “Karthikeyan didn’t do anything unnecessary, didn’t hit him, didn’t change direction sharply,” he said. “Sebastian overtook him and started to turn. But Narain was going straight.”

Karthikeyan has since told Autosport he is ready to move on. “At the end of the day, you don’t want to get in the way of other drivers—and when you are driving a slow car and being a backmarker you cannot afford to do these things.

“I have a lot of respect for Seb’s driving abilities and that is it. I want to put this all behind me now, and just focus on me.”

Clearly, Red Bull’s RB8 is not up to pace in qualifying and while its race pace is better, the team has some work to do to bridge the gap to the McLarens.

It is too early to declare the year a write off for Vettel. But he is not the happy-go-lucky chap around pitlane he was in 2011, when results ran almost exclusively his way. Not only inside his own team, but outside as well.

We wonder, though, would Vettel be more upset at being unable to match the pace of the McLarens, or that he has so far been unable to out qualify his teammate, who is now six points clear in the drivers’ championship?

We learn more about a person’s character in defeat than we do in victory. 2012 is shaping up as a fascinating year.

[Source: ESPN Star | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]