Sebastian Vettel has admitted he is his own worst enemy in his Formula 1 title fight as rival Lewis Hamilton vows to maintain his current approach.
The German was again criticised for causing his own downfall at the Italian Grand Prix after colliding with the Mercedes driver and spinning out of contention on the opening lap.
It was the latest in several setbacks in recent races as rain interfered in Germany and Hungary and allowed the defending champion to open up a 30-point lead in the standings.
Even so, Vettel remains upbeat.
“I think it is pretty straightforward for me. I think the biggest enemy is me and I think we have a great car, I have something to play with and we have the chance to do it in our way,” he said on Thursday.
“Obviously he [Hamilton] is the leader at the moment, he’s the one ahead and he is the one to beat, how much they [his title chances] could be better by now and so on is a different question.
“We still have a very good chance, and as I said, we will be our first enemy and not him as a person or them as a team. I think we need to look after ourselves and if we do that we have a good chance to do well and win races and things look good.”
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While aware of the threat Vettel and Ferrari pose, with arguably the fastest car on the grid, Hamilton believes the success he and Mercedes have had justifies their attempts to counter the Italian team.
“At the moment there is no reason to change the way I approach races as there are a lot of points still available so the approach is still exactly the same as it has been all year long,” he said.
“It seems to be working so that’s really, we’ll just keep that up as long as we can basically but we do expect to have some difficult races up ahead. Obviously, Ferrari have been ahead of us for the past few races so we’ve got to keep up with them if not pass them but it will be tough.”
