Had it been an isolated incident, fans of both Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari would not have been quite so quick to claim that the German has blown his 2018 title hopes.

However, as he gambled on a move on Lewis Hamilton at the second chicane at Monza, clashing with the Briton's Mercedes and spinning, dropping down the order in the process, it followed mistakes at Azerbaijan and again at Hockenheim where he made an unforced error whilst leading his home Grand Prix.

Aware that Hamilton now has a thirty-point lead, it was a sombre Vettel who faced the media in Singapore today.

"I think it is pretty straightforward for me," he told reporters. "I think the biggest enemy is me.

"I think we have a great car, I have something to play with and we have all the chances to do it in our way," he continued. "Obviously he is the leader at the moment, he's the one ahead and he is the one to beat, but I think we have all the chances and how much we could be better by now and so on is a different question.

"We still have a very good chance," he insisted, "and as I said, we will be our first enemy and not him as a person or them as a team. I think we need to look after ourselves and if we do that we have a good chance to do well and win races... and things look good.

Clearly more downbeat than usual, Vettel admitted that his mistake in Germany was the hardest to come to terms with.

"I think it is normal that you do a lot of races and some you feel you should have done better for different reasons," he said. "I think there were also other races where we shouldn't have done so well and we did, but for sure the worst one was Germany.

"I think most important thing is that I know what happened and I can explain it and then everyone is free to have their own views on what happened.

"I would have loved to win in Germany, for sure, but I'm not too bothered and I'm generally looking forward and not focusing on what we all could have done differently to avoid what happened."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 14/09/2018 12:12

"Assuming the infamous "red mist" is kept at bay, and that Merc don't suddenly develop pace, he is a shoe-in for the title, so he can afford to admit his frailties. As @Egalitarian suggests (and excuse the cliche) 'To finish 1st, 1st you have to finish...""

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2. Posted by Egalitarian, 13/09/2018 23:20

" I don't want to mention names lest I upset our editor... but sometimes history can be your friend should you choose to actually learn from it. Think 1987. Someone won six times. Another person won 3 times, but that second person also finished second 7 times and secured the title. Cheers"

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Vettel: The biggest enemy is me

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