Vettel: I paid costly price of Singapore, Japan DNFs

Sebastian Vettel says he paid the price of losing the 2017 Formula 1 world title due to his DNFs in Singapore and Japan as he hopes for a positive end to the campaign.

The Ferrari driver’s season-defining moments arguably came at the two races he has failed to finish having crashed with Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen before the first corner at the Singapore Grand Prix while a broken spark plug forced him into retirement at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Coupled with the fact Lewis Hamilton won both the races, Vettel believes the hefty 50-point swing over two races is the main reason why the Mercedes driver was able to wrap up the F1 world title at the Mexican Grand Prix with two races to spare.

“In the end, you have 20 races, we’ve had 18 so far,” Vettel said. “I’m not a big fan of pointing fingers in one race. We had two races that we didn’t finish and Lewis won both of them. They were the most costly.

“It’s normal you have the feeling here and there that you could have got a bit more. it doesn’t change anything now.”

Having congratulated Hamilton on his fourth F1 world championship, Vettel is now aiming to end the year on a high with victories in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

“We will try to finish the season the way the team deserves and the car deserves,” he said. “In Mexico we’ve been quick. I’m pretty sure we’ll get a result and that is the target for the next two races.”