Japanese Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg SLAMS Sebastian Vettel for being a hot-head
NICO ROSBERG has insisted Sebastian Vettel’s inability to keep a cool head has cost him dearly in this year’s Driver’s Championship.
Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen collide at start of Grand Prix
The four-time world champion is 34 points behind Lewis Hamilton going into today’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The championship standings swung massively in Hamilton’s favour in Singapore last month when Vettel was involved in a huge crash on the opening lap.
Many blamed the German driver for the incident for unnecessarily closing Max Verstappen’s line, although stewards later ruled that nobody was predominantly to blame for the incident.
But it wasn’t the first time Vettel has been in the headlines this year for all the wrong reasons.
He can be just too hot-headed and too self-confident
It was in Azerbaijan back in June when the Ferrari drivers bizarrely rammed into Hamilton’s car twice and gesticulated to his title rival for bunching up the pack ahead of a safety car restart.
And Rosberg, who returned to the track as a pundit for the Sky Sports F1 coverage, believes Vettel can sometimes overstep the mark.
“He can be just too hot-headed and too self-confident which in the long run is a strength of his but in some moments it can be a weakness because it boils over,” Rosberg said.
“Baku yes but Singapore I am not of the opinion that he really missed out because I think he couldn’t see Kimi on the inside.
“I think he has done a very good season and has come pretty close to maximising everything that he could.”
Vettel will start behind Hamilton in today’s race at Suzuka after finishing four-tenths of a second behind his rival in qualifying.
There will be a two week break after Suzuka before Formula One lands in USA.