'Vettel spending more time with Red Bull' while Ferrari hopes fade

Sebastian Vettel has spent more time with the "comfort blanket" of his old employers at Red Bull while his title challenge has collapsed according to the team's former driver David Coulthard, who suggests the German has become unhappy with life at Ferrari.

Vettel has seen his title hopes swept away in a five-race winless streak in which his best result has been third-place finishes picked up in Singapore and Russia.

In that time, his main rival Lewis Hamilton has won four grands prix, a run stopped by Kimi Raikkonen's United States GP win.

Vettel ought to have been in the mix at the Circuit of the Americas, but his chances were blown by a first-lap spin after contact with Daniel Ricciardo – similar incidents left him fighting through the field in Italy and Japan.

The four-time world champion said he is "tired" of having to pull off recovery drives, but Coulthard says his problems may stem from deeper concerns with his team.

Coulthard said on Channel 4: "He's a four time world champion, he's made two mistakes in two corners, one mistake you can say you're finding where the car is…

"He says he's tired - when you're tired you go for your comfort blanket. I've seen him around Red Bull more often in the last few races than at any other time that he's been at Ferrari.

"So he's not knuckling down with his comfort blanket at Ferrari. To me it looks like he's not only tired of the recovery drives, he's just not as happy within the team as he was at Red Bull."

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