With astonishing candour, Sebastian Vettel admitted on Thursday night that his decision to overtake Mark Webber, his Red Bull teammate, for victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix had been an act of pure retribution. "After all that happened in the past few years, Mark didn't deserve to win," he said.

The triple world champion, underlining the irreparable feud between the pair, argued that Webber had failed to help him throughout their tense five-year partnership at Red Bull and was not entitled to the win at Sepang. "He didn't deserve it," Vettel said. "There is a conflict, because on the one hand, I am the kind of guy who respects team decisions and on the other, probably Mark is not the one who deserved it at the time."

Defiant: three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. Credit:Getty Images

Utterly unrepentant, Vettel argued that if he found himself in a position again to flout team orders at the Australian's expense, he would do so. "Had I understood the message, reflected on it, and thought about what the team wanted to do, I probably would have done the same," he said.

The 25-year-old's frictions with Webber had flared up frequently even before the incident in Malaysia, notably when he grew frustrated with his teammate for holding him up in last year's crucial final race in Brazil.