Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is hopeful Formula One’s summer break will revitalise world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Not for the first time this season the reigning four-times world champion found himself overshadowed by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Whereas Ricciardo captured the chequered flag in stunning fashion for the second time this season with victory in the Hungarian GP, Vettel was fortunate to finish seventh.
In tricky conditions, Vettel spun coming out of the final corner at the Hungaroring, skidding across the track and missing the concrete pit wall by millimetres.
A year ago Vettel went into the August holiday in the thick of the title fight, emerging to equal an F1 record of nine successive wins.
That is naturally not going to happen on this occasion, but Horner is at least looking for the 27-year-old to come back mentally refreshed.
“Nothing really went his way, apart from a bit of luck not hitting the wall very hard,” said Horner of Vettel’s performance in Hungary.
“He ended up flat-spotting the tyres, so he had to pit, and we went for the prime tyre to the end of the race. He did a great job in making that tyre go the distance and holding (Valtteri) Bottas who was three seconds a lap quicker over the final laps. He made the Red Bull as wide as I have ever seen it.
“He now deserves a well-earned break, to take a bit of time out, and he will come back strong.
“Up until his issues, the weekend was a strong one for him because on Friday he was quick and Saturday he was fantastic in qualifying.
“He was just unlucky in the race, and that is the way his luck has gone in the first half of the year, but it can change very quickly.”
