Formula One: Narain Karthikeyan hits out at ‘cry baby’ Sebastian Vettel

NARAIN Karthikeyan has continued his war of words with Sebastian Vettel this week by accusing the double world champion of acting like a “cry baby”.

Vettel was left fuming with Karthikeyan after Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix during which he suffered a puncture to his left-rear tyre following a collision with Karthikeyan’s HRT. The incident relegated Vettel from fourth at the time to 11th by the end of the race, meaning that, for the first time in 27 races, the German finished a grand prix but failed to pick up a point.

In the immediate aftermath Red Bull star Vettel vented his anger, saying: “Just like on the normal roads you have some idiots driving around. It seems like there is also one driving here.” The 24-year-old further fanned the flames by describing Indian Karthikeyan as a “cucumber”.

Replays of the incident appear to show Karthikeyan gave Vettel plenty of room to pass, with the 35-year-old supported in his view by the likes of Nico Hulkenberg insisting that what occurred was “not Narain’s fault”.

Karthikeyan has now come out fighting, slating Vettel for what he perceives as his unprofessional attitude this week, unbecoming of a world champion.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Karthikeyan said: “For a world champion to say things like that is really shameful. 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. One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby.”

To add to Karthikeyan’s woes, the stewards felt him to be in the wrong as they added 20 seconds to his time post race. Karthikeyan believes Vettel used his position as world champion to influence the stewards. He added: “They didn’t care about what I had to say because Mr Vettel told them God knows what when he went and talked to them.”

Meanwhile, Jenson Button has revealed he would love to have Fernando Alonso as a team-mate. The two drivers are both world champions but currently find themselves on opposing sides of Formula 1’s greatest rivalry with Button at McLaren and Alonso with Ferrari.

Button’s remark is not to suggest any great desire to leave his current employers for the Maranello marque, nor that he is not enjoying working alongside current team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

However, of all the drivers – with the exception of Hamilton – Button believes 30-year-old Spaniard Alonso would make an ideal team-mate.

“Lewis is extremely quick, we see that all the time, and it’s really exciting having a team-mate like that,” said Button. “It’s tough on some days, but other days it’s great, and it’s a real challenge, which I like. But if Lewis wasn’t in Formula 1, for example, I personally feel it would be exciting having Fernando as a team-mate.

“Fernando is extremely talented, he is a double world champion, he is fast. Is he the fastest in the sport? Probably not, and he would probably say the same, but he is very intelligent.”