Sebastian Vettel's rivals have backed the four-time world champion to bounce back from his recent string of mistakes, including Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who said they're "just part of the game".
Vettel's championship campaign has fallen apart in the latter half of the season despite a strong start which saw him leading Lewis Hamilton by eight points following the British Grand Prix. It began with his home race where he led comfortably before rain hit the circuit, causing the German to slide off into the barrier in the closing laps, handing the victory to Hamilton.
A qualifying error at Ferrari's home race in Italy again handed the advantage to Hamilton where the pair clashed on the opening lap, causing Vettel to spin out. First lap collisions and resultant spins then followed in Japan and last weekend's United States GP.
Those mistakes are bound to happen when a driver is pushing the limit according to his rivals, who are backing Vettel to bounce back.
"I think it’s part of racing," said Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly. "You’re always driving at the limit.
"I think he probably over-performed with the car he had at the beginning of the season. A couple of times he managed to win races which probably they [Ferrari] probably didn’t have the potential to win and then of course, expectations were really high.
"He did a couple of mistakes in the second part of the season. I think he’s the only one who could answer why. When you’re fighting for the championship, you’re so much on the limit all the time, trying to achieve things [which] probably were not achievable with the car he had a couple of times and then things happen.
"I think he knows how to manage a championship. It’s not the first time he’s in this position."
Vettel's team-mate Raikkonen said it's bound to go wrong at some stage: "Well the first thing is that sometimes it happens and he pushes and pushes and sometimes he gets it wrong and unfortunately it happened to him a few times. I think we’ve all gone through it, it’s part of the game."
Sergio Perez believes some of the mistakes have come about through desperation to keep his chances alive and he is therefore making moves he wouldn't necessarily make if he were leading the standings.
"I think Sebastian is a fantastic driver. It’s very hard to judge the performance of someone when you’re not in the team and you don’t know exactly what’s going on.
"Obviously we have seen some mistakes. Probably at the end he was just desperate, trying to achieve what was probably not possible but he’s a four time World Champion.
"He has a great team and he will be back to fight again and he has a great opportunity to fight Lewis. Mercedes also have a fantastic car so it was very hard for him."
Related: How Hamilton can win the championship this weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix
