Sebastian Vettel has described his title defeat to Lewis Hamilton at the Mexico Grand Prix as a “horrible moment” after Ferrari “had it’s chances” throughout the 2018 season.
Entering last weekend’s race with a 70 point deficit to Mercedes’ Hamilton, Vettel needed to win all three of the remaining races in order to stand a chance of winning the title. Hamilton only needed five points to clinch the honours.
Despite a battling drive Vettel only managed to finish second behind Max Verstappen in Mexico and with Hamilton finishing in fourth place, the Brit sealed his fifth world drivers’ championship title.
“It’s a horrible moment,” said Vettel when describing the feeling of losing the championship.
“You put a lot of work in and OK, I get [the] point that you saw it coming. I did pay attention in maths so I could make the numbers, but still, you hang in there as long as you can.
“I’ve had three times now in my life that sort of disappointment, where you realise that you can’t win the championship any more and those are not happy days.
“You reflect not on one moment but the whole year: the work that goes in, the effort that goes in from the end of the last year until now and yeah, I think we had our chances.
“We used most of them, some we did not. But in the end we were not good enough.”
After Vettel and Hamilton had scooped three wins each from the first eight races in 2018, Vettel’s victory at the British Grand Prix meant that he carried an eight point advantage into the second half of the season.
However, several mistakes blunted his title challenge. Hamilton took the championship lead at the German Grand Prix, winning the race from 14th on the grid after Vettel had crashed out while leading in wet conditions.
The 32 point swing in Germany started a run of six wins in seven races for Hamilton while Vettel suffered race compromising spins in Italy, Japan and the USA.
Asked whether 2018 has been his most difficult season in F1, Vettel replied; “Maybe. I need to think about it but in some regards, definitely yes.
“It was definitely different to other years but nevertheless I think we shouldn’t neglect the fact that we had a very strong package, we were able to win races, we’re not in contention any more for the drivers’ championship but we can fight for the constructors’.
“So, even if it has been a difficult year, I think still it’s been a good year for us as a team.”
