Lewis Hamilton has urged the F1 media to show more respect to title rival Sebastian Vettel.
The Ferrari driver has committed a series of high-profile errors in recent races while Hamilton has won six of the last seven events to surge 67 points clear in the standings.
“I feel the media need to show a little more respect for Sebastian,” Hamilton wrote on social media. “You simply cannot imagine how hard it is to do what we do at our level.”
Vettel, who has hitherto shunned social media, was widely criticised after his most recent mistakes, running off track in qualifying for the Japanese GP before crashing into Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on race day.
What did Hamilton say?
In a post on his Instagram account, Hamilton wrote:
“I feel the media need to show a little more respect for Sebastian. You simply cannot imagine how hard it is to do what we do at our level, for any athlete at the top of their game that is. It is to be expected that being humans we will make mistakes but it is how we get through them that counts.”
What did the media say about Vettel?
The four-time world champion was subject to intense criticism in the wake of his Suzuka setback.
“It is a measure of Lewis Hamilton’s total mastery of the track that Sebastian Vettel has been reduced to the type of self-damaging, gung-ho gamble that practically gift-wrapped the world title for the Briton here on Sunday,” said the Daily Mail.
The Daily Telegraph wrote: “It was his seventh mistake of an increasingly erratic campaign which has unravelled since the summer break.”
And The Sun categorised the Ferrari driver’s collision with Verstappen as “another spectacular example of just how Vettel crumbles under the pressure”, describing the move as “ridiculous”.
But the Sky Sports F1 pundits were also critical of Vettel’s driving. “Vettel only has himself to blame for that mistake,” said Paul Di Resta. “He’s throwing the championship away at exactly the same point it all went wrong last year.”
