Call for Vettel to be suspended

Triple world champion Vettel had been told to hold position behind team-mate Mark Webber after the pair had completed their final pit stops at Sepang.

But he overtook the Australian to take the victory, despite team chief Christian Horner telling him over the radio his behaviour was “silly”.

Watson, who raced for Brabham and McLaren during the Seventies and Eighties, believes Vettel’s actions undermined Horner’s authority within the team, and a one-race suspension is needed to put the 25-year-old in his place.

Watson said: “If Christian Horner doesn’t reassert his authority in the team – because he has been totally subjugated by Sebastian Vettel (on Sunday) – then his position in the team is not exactly the role it is designed to be.

“The only conclusion I can reach is that Vettel should be suspended for the next grand prix.

“You can’t take the points away from him and give them to Mark Webber – that’s now history and Sebastian has the benefit of those seven additional points.

“You can’t really fine him, it is almost irrelevant to fine him, so the only purposeful way to bring him to book is to say ‘you will stand out one race’.”

Webber and Vettel’s relationship has been fractious since they crashed into each other while disputing the lead of the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. They also fell out over Vettel being given first call on a new front wing at the British Grand Prix in the same season.