Daniel Ricciardo believes the succession of mistakes this season by Sebastian Vettel have perhaps slightly altered the Ferrari driver's judgment.
The German has wasted valuable championship points over the course of the season because of mishaps and mistakes, the latest of which was a contact with Ricciardo on the opening lap of last weekend's US Grand Prix.
Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, Ricciardo was asked about Vettel's errors and the possible reason behind the frequency of the blunders, suggesting their repetitive nature has perhaps made his former team mate "slightly hesitant" when he finds himself in a wheel-to-wheel battle with an opponent.
"That could maybe create that little bit of misjudgment, even kind of subconsciously if you don't even know it," said Ricciardo.
"If you're playing catch: you drop 10 in a row, probably by the 11th one you're like 'alright don't drop it, don't drop it'. So it could be a similar thing with that.
"To be honest I looked at Seb's onboard and I didn't actually see anything, I didn't think he went in hot, I didn't think he looked erratic.
"So, in a way I'll defend him – in terms of I didn't see anything out of character. For sure it's happened a few times now but that one for me didn't look out of character.
"It could be that, as an explanation, but I don't want to tell him how to drive."
F1 sporting manager Ross Brawn believes Vettel's tendency to screw-up isn't a coincidence, insisting the driver is "a bit out of sorts".
But Fernando Alonso disagrees, claiming the errors are just "coincidence", and that Vettel's driving is being excessively analysed because of his position in the title fight.
"I saw a lot of graphs where Sebastian is three milliseconds [faster] in this straight, Hamilton is two milliseconds on braking, four milliseconds mid-corner," said Alonso.
"These kinds of analyses bring a lot of attention and a lot of repercussion in any little issue, but I think has been a coincidence more than a pure mistakes."
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