Lewis Hamilton taunts ace rival Sebastian Vettel: ‘Your problem is your short fuse’

LEWIS HAMILTON has taunted Sebastian Vettel by claiming the German's weakness is his short fuse.

The two clashed in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Vettel blew his top and lashed out at Hamilton by ramming him with his F1 car.

Vettel was livid as he incorrectly thought Hamilton had deliberately brake-tested him when they were both behind the safety car.

Vettel has since been forced to apologise for his road rage.

However, Hamilton says F1's Mr Angry could come unstuck due to his temper tantrums.

He said: "When you look at your competitors, especially in tennis, you are always trying to find their weak spots.

"And it is evident where Sebastian's is. There is not much more I can do to put pressure on him other than drive the way I am doing.

"His temper is one of his weaknesses... I am going to keep the other one to myself. I want to keep that in my pocket.

"But it will not affect the way I race. I want to race as hard as I can and I have the pace and the ability. I just need to continue to do the job I am doing."

Hamilton,  fastest in second practice for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix, is not the only driver who says Vettel's anger management is a problem.

His former Red Bull team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, also feels Vettel's bizarre radio rants show that he has a temper.

And he says it all stems from the fact that the four-time world champion is obsessed by F1 and does not have any other hobbies.

He added: "It is emotional times at the moment. There are emotional scenes at the front of the grid and emotions are running high.

"It has bitten Seb in the love handles a few times before, too! We have heard him on the radio and he is a reactive person in the heat of the moment, so I guess you could call it a temper.

"I agree with Lewis in that he does things on the spur of the moment but that is his competitive personality, because he lives and breathes F1 and that is all.

"Lewis has shown he has other hobbies and interests outside of F1 and probably keeps him cool."

Hamilton and Vettel have now spoken about the incident in Baku that earned Vettel, who leads the championship by 14 points, a 10-second stop-and-go penalty.

Vettel escaped without additional punishment from the sport's governing body, leaving Hamilton baffled.

Initially, the stubborn German refused to accept the responsibility for ramming into Hamilton.

However, the red-faced 30-year old has now admitted his actions were "immature".

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He said: "I did a mistake and I was surprised when Lewis seemed to slow down and I overreacted. It needs to be clear, I made a mistake.

"It was wrong and immature and I got the penalty in a race that was almost handed to me, so I have to move on."

Meanwhile, Hamilton has been dealt a blow after he was forced to take an unscheduled gearbox change, triggering a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race.