Coulthard: Ferrari support for Vettel insufficient

Former F1 driver and Channel 4 pundit David Coulthard believes Ferrari failed to provide Sebastian Vettel with the same amount of support enjoyed by Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

Hamilton secured his fifth world title in Mexico last weekend after a string of results had left Vettel in the Brit's dust.

In the eyes of Coulthard, Ferrari was nowhere near Mercedes in terms of offering its driver the adequate level of support during a hard-fought campaign in which many believe it had the upper hand in terms of car superiority.

"I just get a feeling that the team haven't supported Vettel in the same way that Lewis has been supported," Coulthard told Sportsmail.

"I think that even though Valtteri has been given a fair crack of the whip, the general feeling at Mercedes is that Lewis is the man.

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"If push comes to shove, he's the one who's going to win more races and challenge for the championship.

"What [Ferrari] did at Monza, allowing Kimi to get pole, and then Vettel ending up running second into the second chicane, and that gives Hamilton a go...things like that put them on the back foot."

And the 13-time Grand Prix winner also underlined Ferrari's weakness in the strategy department.

"They can't deny that certain strategic decisions have played against Vettel," said the Scot.

"A combination of that and just generally some unfortunate and unforced errors on his part."

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