Pedro de la Rosa: Ferrari needed to give Sebastian Vettel more support

Pedro de la Rosa has become the latest former driver to say Ferrari failed to give Sebastian Vettel enough support during his championship fight with Lewis Hamilton. He joins forces with David Coulthard who said the same thing earlier in the week.

"Things like that put them on the back foot. They can't deny that certain strategic decisions have played against Vettel," de la Rosa told Spain's El Confidencial.

"Ferrari have had a car at Mercedes' level in every way for the first time in the hybrid era. But Vettel's mistakes coupled with the fact that Ferrari did not protect him meant that they lost the World Championship."

In context: Coulthard says Ferrari needed to give Vettel more support

Vettel faced plenty of grief from the Italian media throughout the season. This peaked with his crash in Hockenheim. De la Rosa explains that in those times, Ferrari should have generated public support to protect their driver.

"I remember when he crashed in Germany, it was a very strong blow to Vettel with a very prominent error. But I didn't see a very strong defence of the driver. I didn't see it. Then came Monza, when Hamilton overtook him dramatically and won the race," the former Red Bull driver added.

"I think that given the pressure Vettel was suffering, I would have expected more public support from the team. Maybe he had it [the support] internally. But it should have been public to relieve the pressure, especially from the Italian press."

See Also: Vettel gets hammered by Italian Press