Sebastian Vettel is calling in the lawyers after a ‘psychological coach’ claimed to be employed by the new back-to-back world champion.
A 31-year-old Austrian woman has in recent days claimed on several articles and interviews to have helped the Red Bull driver to achieve his unprecedented success.

“I don’t even know this woman,” Vettel told Bild newspaper.

Red Bull’s driver manager Helmut Marko revealed: “We have referred the matter to the lawyers.”

In fact, the woman might also be the victim of a fraud, after producing a recent email supposedly from Vettel.

Vettel’s spokeswoman Britta Roeske insisted: “That letter did not come from Sebastian’s email address.”

The mental coach said: “Maybe I’ve been misled by a charlatan.”

Lucas di Grassi has survived an uncomfortable gaffe within the Virgin team.

After the Hockenheim race, the team’s press officer Tracy Novak reportedly presented both the Brazilian rookie and his teammate Timo Glock with proposed official quotes for the media release.

The normal practice in the team is for the drivers to make proposed changes in writing, before reporters receive the release by email.

Motorsport-total.com reveals that although it was probably a prank, di Grassi, 25, amended German Glock’s official comment.

The quote received by the media read: “It was a difficult start to the race as Lucas overtook me in a brilliant move”.

Glock said: “When I read it I was very surprised — I can guarantee I didn’t say it.”

The German report indicates that Virgin did not see the funny side either, particularly after di Grassi retired from the race due to hitting a kerb too hard.

An email mistakenly sent to his boss could have led to Bruno Senna sitting out the British grand prix.

In the absence of an adequate alternative explanation, it had been thought the Brazilian was replaced due to sponsorship issues, with Sakon Yamamoto reporting wielding $5m in funding.

But after a series of meetings at Silverstone, HRT announced that Senna will be back in the car at Hockenheim and beyond; an indication that there is more to the story.

Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport suggests a simple email could be the reason.

The report said Senna, 26, composed an email that was highly critical of the struggling Spanish team’s boss Colin Kolles and his management style — and then accidentally sent it to the Romanian-born German.

The implication is that Senna was replaced for just a single race by Japanese Yamamoto as a disciplinary reaction to the insubordination.

Fascinatingly, Auto Bild suggested that it was originally Karun Chandhok who was closer to losing his race seat in Britain, due to late sponsor payments.