Vettel in a dark moment – Nico

FORMER world champion Nico Rosberg believes Sebastian Vettel is in a dark place after claiming the German has lost his number one status at Ferrari to in-form Charles Leclerc.

Vettel will take part in the Singapore Grand Prix a week on Sunday, 13 points behind Leclerc in the championship following the 21-year-old Monegasque’s superlative victory in Monza.

As Leclerc lapped up the adulation of the Tifosi, quadruple world champion Vettel was reflecting on yet another torrid afternoon. He spun for a second successive year at the Italian team’s home race before colliding with Lance Stroll and damaging his car. He was penalised with a ten-second-stop-and-go punishment, finishing 13th, a lap behind his team-mate.

“This moment must be so dark for Vettel,” said Rosberg. “His team-mate just became an absolute Ferrari legend, taking his number one status in the team.

“It is unexplainable for me. He is a four-time world champion, he is one of the best guys out there and to make a mistake like that, on your own, just spinning the car, is so strange.”

Publicly, Ferrari are standing by their £36million-a-year driver, with chief executive Louis Camilleri, who was among the team’s bigwigs in Monza to see Vettel’s latest horror show, insisting he will bounce back.

“I don’t like the fact that people are trying to write off Seb,” he said. “He’s an amazing driver and I have every confidence that Seb’s going to come back.”

Vettel’s contract expires at the end of next season, but the emergence of Leclerc may see him depart before then.