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Wolff: Vettel's mistakes could "bite" him in title race

12:05, 01 Jul 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that the mistakes Sebastian Vettel makes could "bite" him in the title with Lewis Hamilton, as the Ferrari driver has now been set back three places on the grid after qualifying.

Vettel had obstructed Sainz on his hot lap by driving very slowly on the racing line, forcing the Spaniard wide of the track.

While it didn't have any implications for both drivers as it happened in Q2 and both Sainz and Vettel made it to Q3, the stewards still decided to penalize the German by setting him back three places on the starting grid, meaning he nows starts from P6 behind Romain Grosjean.

Wolff explains that this can't happen if you want to win a title.

"In order to win a championship you need to be as fast as possible, as reliable as possible, and with the least errors," Wolff told Autosport.

"But sometimes it's very difficult to put all these together.

"I've said it before, Sebastian's biggest strength is his ambition, but sometimes like in Le Castellet it went against him."

What he meant, of course, was Vettel trying to take Valtteri Bottas on the inside at the start of the French Grand Prix last weekend, which resulted in him pushing the Fin off the track, damaging his own front wing in the process.

"Every team is aware you have to get out of the way in order to not have a penalty, and all drivers are instructed by their engineers about what's happening behind them.

"It's important to try to collect every single point that's there, and when you leave some on the table, that could eventually come and bite you."

It looks to be a race of damage limitation again for Vettel as he starts four places behind Lewis Hamilton in P2, but you never know what might happen at the start of the race!