Elon Musk says Jeff Bezos should spend 'less time in the hot tub' as Blue Origin falls behind SpaceX - but admits Amazon founder has 'reasonably good engineering aptitude'

 Elon Musk has once again ratcheted up his war of words with billionaire space race foe Jeff Bezos, saying the Amazon founder doesn't work as hard as him and should spend 'less time in the hot tub'.

The Tesla CEO, who was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2021, did offer faint praise of his rival when he said he has 'reasonably good engineering aptitude', despite Blue Origin falling behind his own space company SpaceX.

But he followed this up by adding that Bezos 'does not seem to be willing to spend mental energy getting into the details of engineering'. 

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Swipe: Elon Musk has ratcheted up his war of words with space race foe Jeff Bezos, saying the Amazon founder doesn't work as hard as him and should spend 'less time in the hot tub'

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The Tesla CEO, who was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2021, did offer faint praise of Blue Origin's Bezos (pictured) when he said he has 'reasonably good engineering aptitude'

'The devil's in the details,' Musk said in an interview with the Financial Times after being named the paper's person of the year. 

'In some ways, I'm trying to goad him into spending more time at Blue Origin so they make more progress. 

'As a friend of mine says, he should spend more time at Blue Origin and less time in the hot tub.'

Musk, 50, then hammered home his own work ethic, revealing he works every day and 80 to 90 hours per week overseeing SpaceX and Tesla projects, before taking one more parting shot when he said Bezos 'does take himself a bit too seriously'.

The Blue Origin founder, 57, has not yet responded to the remarks but the pair have been in an ongoing spat for a number of years now. 

Their rivalry only intensified when Blue Origin announced in August that it was suing Nasa over a decision to award a $2.9bn (£2.1bn) lunar lander contract to SpaceX.  

Bezos' firm took issue with the decision in April to hand the deal to one company, not two as expected, because of a funding shortfall.

It called the deal unfair and said there were 'fundamental issues' with it, but last month a judge dismissed the lawsuit.

Once again Musk was quick to revel in his adversary's misery.

He responded to the news by tweeting a Judge Dredd meme that showed a photo of the titular character, played by Sylvester Stallone, with the caption 'YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED.'  

There was a brief thawing in their relations a couple of months ago, however, when Musk congratulated Bezos for the 'cool' decision to send Star Trek's William Shatner into space.

The rare show of solidarity came hours after Prince William offered an unexpected rebuke of the pair's race to leave Earth during a BBC Newscast interview.

The Duke of Cambridge, 39, said the world's greatest minds should be 'fixed on trying to repair this planet', rather than taking steps towards a life on another.

The support between the pair of space-focused billionaires is a rare reprieve in their long-running rivalry, which is thought to date back to a bad meeting in 2004.

Since then, the duo have clashed repeatedly, with notable battles including a dispute over access to a NASA launch pad and a patent for drone ship technology.

In recent years the billionaires have fired salvos at each other publicly on Twitter, with Musk mocking Bezos in September after overtaking him as the world's richest man.

The Tesla chief said he would send the Amazon founder a silver medal. 

Musk is worth about $252billion (£189bn) while Bezos is worth $195billion (£146bn), according to Forbes.

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Musk, 50, works every day and 80 to 90 hours per week overseeing SpaceX and Tesla projects

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Feud: Musk and Bezos' rivalry only intensified when Blue Origin announced in August that it was suing Nasa over a decision to award a $2.9bn (£2.1bn) lunar lander contract to SpaceX

Along with Virgin Galactic's Sir Richard Branson, the billionaires have been dubbed the 'NewSpace' set.

Bezos had looked set to be the first of the three to fly to space, having announced plans to launch aboard his space company Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on July 20, but Branson beat him to the punch.

The British billionaire became Virgin Galactic Astronaut 001 when he made it to space on a suborbital flight nine days before Bezos — on July 11 in a test flight.

Bezos travelled to space on July 20 with his younger brother Mark, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student whose dad purchased his ticket, and pioneering female astronaut Wally Funk, 82.

Although SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has said he wants to go into space, and even 'die on Mars', he has not said when he might blast into orbit — but has purchased a ticket with Virgin Galactic for a suborbital flight. 

However, SpaceX appears to be leading the way in the broader billionaire space race, with numerous launches carrying NASA equipment to the International Space Station and partnerships to send tourists to space over the next for years.