Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda believes Sebastian Vettel took too big a risk at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix and threw away valuable championship points.
Vettel retired from the race on the opening lap after sustaining damage to his car in a collision with Max Verstappen and teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The accident cleared the way for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton to take an unexpected victory in Singapore and extend his championship lead over Vettel to 28 points.
The stewards deemed the collision to be a racing incident, but Lauda was in no doubt that Vettel caused the accident by attempting to cover the inside line on the run down to Turn 1.