Red Bull's Adrian Newey has revealed that Sebastian Vettel was "distraught" by his last lap error that lost him last year's Canadian GP, and believes that the German will use that experience to try and make even less errors in 2012.
Vettel secured a dominant second F1 title in 2011 using Newey's RB7 car design, but his title win was still not entirely error-free.
The German had led the Canadian race from start to finish, before sliding wide under pressure from McLaren's Jenson Button on the final lap and ceding the lead.
And despite winning 11 races throughout the rest of the season, and the loss of the Canadian win having been incidental to his season, Newey has revealed that Vettel was upset over his mistake.
"If [Vettel] makes a mistake, which being human of course he does, then he tries to learn from that," he told the Autosport website this week.
"So he will be analysing very carefully everything he has done this year and trying to improve on that [for 2012]."
He went on: "One example is after Montreal where he was distraught post-race - that he had been beaten, having dominated the whole race, on the last lap."
And Newey added that the Canadian result had been an unhappy time for the whole team, suggesting that they could have done more to help him in the race.
"We all were [upset] to be honest," he mused, "As a team we all learned a lesson from that, and I kick myself that we didn't take enough action in critical parts.
"We could probably have done a bit more under the red flag, we could have said more about Jenson's progress in those last few laps.
"It is those little things that you have to try and learn from."
But he believes that both Vettel and the team are ready and willing to keep pushing to eliminate mistakes during the 2012 season, as they search for a third successive title.
"There is a huge desire and hunger," Newey beamed, "And that comes, to be perfectly honest – it comes wherever you are. If you are seventh you are aspiring to be higher, and wherever it is."
Newey's latest design, the 2011 RB8, has not yet been given a confirmed launch date, though the team are expected to attend the first pre-season test with the car early next month.
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