Sebastian Vettel’s recent run of errors have been the result of trying to make up for Ferrari’s shortfalls, Pierre Gasly has claimed.
Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, a number of drivers have come to the defence of the German suggesting the criticism aimed his way has been unfair and overhyped.
Gasly’s response was the most interesting, however, as he pointed to the advantage Mercedes have had at different stages of 2018 and the pressure that put on his good friend Vettel.
“It’s part of racing you are always driving at the limit,” he said.
“I think probably he overperformed with the car he had at the beginning of the season, a couple of times he managed to win races which probably Ferrari didn’t have the potential to win them and then expectations were really high.
“He did a couple of mistakes in the second half of the season and I think he is the only one who can answer why,” he added. “When you are fighting for the championship you are so much at the limit all the time, trying to achieve things that probably wasn’t achievable sometimes with the car he had and things happen.
“I think he knows how to manage a championship, it’s not the first time he is in this position but he’s the only one who could answer that question.”
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What has been noticeable on all three of the spins Vettel has had, against Lewis Hamilton at Monza, Max Verstappen at Suzuka and Daniel Ricciardo in Austin, is how he has been on the inside on each occasion when typically it is the car on the outside which spins after contact.
“Obviously you want to have the inside to the corner, that doesn’t change but I don’t know,” the German told Motorsport.com. “The closer you are to another car, you lose some downforce and obviously the spins I had were all quite weird because there was not much I could have done [differently].
“It is not like I had gone in too fast or would have spun on my own at that speed, not at all.
“So I guess there must be some sort of hole [of turbulent air] or something being on the inside of a car in that position. Obviously, on all three occasions I wasn’t clearly ahead, at best side-by-side, so as I said, maybe next time I try the outside.”
