Nico: Seb has gifted it to Lewis

SEBASTIAN VETTEL has handed Lewis Hamilton the world championship, according to their old rival Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes driver

Hamilton needs just five points from the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday to retain his title and match Juan Manuel Fangio’s total of five wins.

Vettel won the season’s first two races to leave Ferrari dreaming of having their first champion since Kimi Raikkonen back in 2007.

Instead, the 33-year-old British driver has lived up to his reputation of ruthlessly exposing weaknesses shown by his rivals to leave Vettel trailing by 70 points with three races remaining.

Rosberg, who held off Mercedes team-mate Hamilton to become world champion in 2016 and retired a day later, is critical of how Vettel has handled the title race.

He said: “It’s all about consistency and he’s done the opposite.

“He’s been all over the place really in the last few months – he and the team both together.

“It’s been so one-sided since the summer that it’s unbelievable.

“It was seemingly Vettel who was going to take the championship and it’s just gone completely in the other direction with total dominance since.

“And it’s just the result of mistakes, and you’re never going to beat Lewis like that, because Lewis doesn’t make mistakes.”

Rosberg told Beyond The Grid podcast: “Vettel wants too much in the moment and doesn’t think about the long game.

“He’s also a little too selfconfident and doesn’t accept it when someone else has done a better job.

“Sometimes you need to step back and say, ‘The other guy’s better at this moment but I’ll get him back down the road’.

“I’m sure he can do a lot better than he’s shown in the last couple of months, because he’s one of the best drivers in the world.”