Vettel asked by FIA to discuss penalty

The German's Red Bull Racing team has confirmed that Vettel has been asked by FIA race stewards' advisor Alan Donnelly to go through the rationale for being hit with a penalty for the clash that came as he fought for second place with Kubica in Melbourne.

It is not clear whether the FIA is considering revising the penalty off its own back, but Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner made it clear his outfit was not involved in any formal bid to reduce the punishment.

"Alan Donnelly has asked to have a chat with Sebastian to go through the rationale behind their penalty," said Horner, when asked by AUTOSPORT to clarify the situation.

"To me I thought the penalty was harsh. We thought it was very much a racing incident. Sebastian was defending his line and it [the penalty] depended on what was discussed during the stewards' hearing. So I think Alan wanted to speak to Sebastian about that. I think that is the long and short of it."

Horner said that after RBR chose not to appeal the decision in Australia, then there was no possibility for it to protest the matter in Malaysia.

"There is no mechanism," he explained. "We had the right to appeal but the stewards' minds were resolute in Australia. I think it was an extremely harsh decision but we chose to accept that decision."

With the race stewards in Malaysia currently deliberating the Lewis Hamilton/Jarno Trulli safety car incident from Australia, Horner admitted that he was unsure about the possibility of the stewards overturning the Vettel penalty.

"Let's follow the Toyota one and see what happens there," he said. "The stewards were pretty busy all weekend in Oz, hopefully they will have a quieter time this weekend."