- Sebastian Vettel now trails Lewis Hamilton by 59 points in world championship
- The Brit took advantage of Vettel retirement to win Japanese Grand Prix
- Hamilton can win title by outscoring Ferrari star by 16 points in the next race
- But Vettel still targets a fifth championship in the final four races
- READ: More F1 news, features and points tables
Sebastian Vettel has not given up on his world championships hopes despite a catastrophic retirement at the Japanese Grand Prix all but handing Lewis Hamilton the title.
Vettel went into the race 34 points behind Hamilton but with his title hopes in his hands as he lined up alongside his title rival on the front row at Suzuka.
But a spark plug issue ended the Ferrari driver’s race after just four laps, and with Hamilton going on to claim victory it means the Brit now has a 59-point lead with just 100 points at stake.
Sebastian Vettel saw his world championship hopes go up in smoke at the Japanese GP
Ferrari remove the cover on Vettel’s car before the race after the German reported problems
The team identified a spark plug problem on the Ferrari before appearing to fix the car
But Vettel, who has seen his title hopes evaporate after a string of bad weekends, has refused to point the blame at Ferrari and insists the championship battle isn’t over.
‘It’s normal to be critical especially if things go wrong. But I think I need to protect them (the team),’ Vettel told Sky Sports.
It’s like that sometimes of course, it hurts, and we are all disappointed but the best is to get back, get some rest and go flat out for the last four races and see what happens.
‘We still have a chance this year it depends what happens in the next races.’
Vettel was passed by Max Verstappen (right) heading into the hairpin on the first lap
By the end of the first lap, the limping Ferrari had fallen down to sixth in the order
After a safety car period and dropping down to eighth, Vettel’s car was retired by Ferrari
| DRIVER | TEAM | WINS | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 8 | 306 |
| 2. Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 4 | 247 |
| 3. Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 2 | 234 |
| 4. Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1 | 192 |
| 5. Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 0 | 148 |
| 6. Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | 111 |
Despite enduring a third successive nightmare weekend in a Ferrari cockpit, Vettel reflected on Ferrari’s progress this term, following a 2016 campaign where the team failed to win a race.
‘Obviously its not as much in our control as we’d like but overall I think the team is on a good way,’ Vettel added.
‘We have done an incredible job so far. Obviously, pity the last two races with reliability issues.
I think we are improving race by race. We have got a lot further than people thought so there is some positives but for now you don’t look at those.’