HRT's Narain Karthikeyan said that a hydraulic failure that had locked up his steering was to blame for the violent lap 7 crash with Mercedes' Nico Rosberg in Abu Dhabi.
Even before the news of Sebastian Vettel's demotion to the back of the field for today's race, Mark Webber was clear he wouldn't be falling over himself to follow team orders on Sunday.
Sebastian Vettel: This weekend in Abu Dhabi the same level of concentration and skill is what is needed if we are to stay in front because with three races to go a comfortable lead is an elusive thing.
Dr Vijay Mallya: "It will be an interesting race because we have seen that the tyre degradation here is not that severe, which means we need to think long and hard about how we will use the strategy."