Vettel attitude could prove costly - Brundle

Former F1 driver Martin Brundle believes Sebastian Vettel's chesty attitude on the race track could ultimately cost him a shot at the world championship.

The Sky Sports F1 pundit believes the Ferrari driver is at the top of his game, but insists he's also making life difficult for himself by expressing a form of arrogance.

"We used to hear the likes of 'get him out of my way' over the radio, and on Sunday in Malaysia he felt the need to broadcast that he 'thought Alonso was better than that' after he held him up a while," Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports column.

"Fernando was far from helpful in letting the Ferrari past it is true, but Vettel is being somewhat ironic there for someone who intentionally hit another car behind the Safety Car in Baku.

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"Then he and Lance Stroll, who had just scored points for the sixth time in nine races, managed to trip over each other on the slow-down lap wrecking the Ferrari beyond belief.

"It was all very unlucky in the post-adrenaline lack of focus, and no further action was taken on the bizarre event. But it should never have happened.

"Vettel then risked a penalty by taking his technically-sensitive steering wheel with him while hitching a lift on a Sauber, with a perfectly sensible medical car waiting nearby. There's just no point in provoking the stewards and testing the rules like that."

Reliability woes hit Vettel in qualifying in Sepang, sending the German to the back of the grid and leaving him to charge through the field on Sunday.

Brundle was impressed by his drive, but admitted that Vettel's poor judgment may wreak havoc on his title chances.

"I like spirited drivers but I mention all this because it's costing Vettel a world championship, not least cutting across Max Verstappen in Singapore.

"Ferrari are giving him the equipment, even to recover from a back row grid start through mechanical failure, and as the pressure grows, as it always does at Ferrari, I wonder who's going to start pointing fingers at who," Brundle added.

"He is driving brilliantly, but his extra-curricular activity and attitude is making it unnecessarily difficult."

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