Niki Lauda believes Sebastian Vettel could learn from Fernando Alonso's ability to deliver when the car is not at its best.

Vettel cruised to his second world championship last season as he made the most of a dominant Red Bull to win 11 of the 19 races. He's having a much tougher time of it this season, however, with Alonso leading the championship by 40 points despite Ferrari not having the quickest car, and Lauda thinks Vettel could learn to get more from tough races.

"Last year [Vettel] had a huge advantage with his car," Lauda told Österreich. "Now he must fight like a donkey in every race. As the stress level is higher (this season) then one of the aspects Vettel could take is from Alonso; in difficult situations he is superior to everyone else."

Lauda added that he expects to see a close fight for the championship right through until the end of the season, despite Alonso's lead.

"The top teams are very close together, as we saw at the last race in Hungary. I expect this close fight to continue and hope that Red Bull and McLaren still have further potential to exploit."