F1 has a new "crash kid", according to Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko.
After Sebastian Vettel crashed into Jenson Button at Spa last year, McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said the young German "is a crash kid".
"It is not what you would expect to see in formula one," he added.
A year on, it is McLaren’s own Lewis Hamilton who is attracting the headlines for his on-track incidents, while Red Bull’s Vettel cruises to his second title.
"’Crash kid’ was a McLaren media construct," the energy drink company’s driver manager Marko is quoted by Auto Bild Motorsport.
Referring now to Hamilton, who crashed twice over the recent Belgian grand prix weekend, the Austrian added: "Now they have a crash kid in their own team."
Another Austrian, the outspoken triple world champion Niki Lauda, agrees that Hamilton might now learn from the unflappable Vettel.
"You can’t win championships if you are crashing," he told the Sunday Express. "Look at Sebastian Vettel, he is not making any mistakes or crashing, and that is why he is going to win the title again this year."