Vettel isn't 'erratic' - Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo jumped to the defence of Sebastian Vettel after their opening-lap collision at the United States Grand Prix, insisting he sees nothing "erratic" in the German's approach. Vettel was spun to the back of the field at COTA – the latest in a growing line of errors that have cost him a shot at the title in 2018.

Vettel was also spun after clipping Lewis Hamilton in Italy and Max Verstappen in Japan, while Hockenheim, Paul Ricard and the Red Bull Ring also saw the Ferrari man spill points with on-track mistakes.

Ricciardo believes that his former team-mate may have been mentally impacted by his litany of blunders, but did not see anything in his crash with Vettel that warranted further analysis.

"That could maybe create that little bit of misjudgement," said Ricciardo. "Even kind of subconsciously if you don't even know it.

Vettel's race and title hopes were almost over before the end of Lap 1 ???? #USGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/o13JaOxub8 — Formula 1 (@F1) October 21, 2018

"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."

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