Sebastian Vettel has admitted he considered psychiatric help to deal with his tendency to fail under pressure as another potential world champion appears to be slipping away.
The German has come in for criticism for the plethora of mistakes he has made this season, his latest being a collision with Lewis Hamilton at Monza in addition to the race-ending slide into the gravel back at Hockenheim.
Some estimates believe if the Ferrari driver has optimised each situation he could be over 70 points clear of Hamilton in the standings, rather than 40 points behind, however, talking about his mental strength to Auto Bild, doubts a doctor would benefit.
“Of course I have pressure, but most of the time I put it on myself. If you know what you can do and you do not achieve it, then you are not satisfied,” he claimed.
“I find the idea very interesting [of getting a psychologist], but I have not met a person that I think can help. I’ve already researched it a bit, so the whole topic has not passed me by.
“When you have stress, you need to find balance,” he added. “I have developed things that work for me and I have enough self-discipline, so as not to be confused.”
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Vettel also insists comments by journalists or pundits don’t have a major impact on him, mostly because he doesn’t read them.
“In my spare time, I hardly read articles about Formula 1, more about football. I do not let criticism get to me and that saves me dealing with it,” he said.
“Generally, my motto is: ‘You’re never as good as people say and you’re never as bad as they say’.”
