Newey: Stupid mistakes in heat of battle Vettel's weakness

In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, Newey said, "First I have to admit: Sebastian is a friend of mine. We get along very well. He works incredibly hard, sometimes too hard. Hardly anyone is more self-critical than he is."

"If he has a weakness, it is that sometimes he makes stupid mistakes in the heat of the moment. When he leads, he is almost unbeatable, but in direct battles, he sometimes lacks."

"In sports and also in life, there are people who deal with pressure differently. For drivers, this can be significantly difficult. In the car, he is not only responsible for himself, but has the entire team on his shoulders," added Newey clearly referencing the pressure that comes with racing for Ferrari.

Newey, who penned the four F1 championship-winning Red Bull cars that powered Vettel to his four titles, continued, "Some drivers don't care, like the Finns Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen."

"But then there are also drivers who are in contention for the championship and they feel the pressure, it weighs on them. The harder a driver works the more he feels the pressure, Sebastian belongs to this group."

While Vettel and Ferrari have stumbled title rival Lewis Hamilton is on the bubble, enjoying the best form of his career, revelling in the pressure and using it to fire him up in the final phase of this championship.

Asked if handling pressure was now Hamilton's strength, Newey replied, "Yes, it seems to be so. When he was younger, he also made mistakes. Now he has apparently found a way to better handle the pressure."

For Vettel to be champion, Newey predicted, "If it's going to happen, he needs at least one DNF from Lewis. Otherwise it will be damn hard..."

In his book 'How To Build A Car', Newey wrote about Senna's fascination with every bit of the car and even crouched down to study the underside of the Williams when he visited the factory.

When asked if any other driver showed such interest in technical details, Newey said, "As far as interest in the car's design and aerodynamics, only Sebastian can match him. For Ayrton and Sebastian, it was about their curiosity to understand all things about their car."

With regards to his own future, Newey admitted, "If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have told you: Five more years. If you had asked me five years ago, I would probably have said the same thing. But I'm not ready to quit yet."