Vettel on 2018: "We didn't take our chances"

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel thinks the Singapore Grand Prix was the crucial point of the 2018 season, as the German explained his team simply didn't have the pace to keep up with Mercedes from that point onwards.

Vettel, of course, took a quite commanding lead of the championship in the early stages of the season, as he won the first two Grands Prix in Australia and Bahrain. Things were looking up for both the German and Ferrari all-together as they led the championship as far in as ten races, but things went south after the summer break.

Lewis Hamilton went into a league of his own as he started winning races where everyone had written him off; both in Italy and in Singapore. Particularly in the latter of the two Mercedes simply had the quicker car; this was where things in the championship turned around according to Vettel.

“For me, the [crucial point] was Singapore," Vettel reflected on F1.com.

"From there onwards, we just didn’t have the pace to keep up with Mercedes for a couple of races. Other things happened on top that didn’t help and we couldn’t score the points due to mistakes we did, mistakes I did.”

The four-time champion quickly added that seasons aren't turned around in one weekend though, as it's been the entire year where Ferrari need to improve in his eyes.

“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.

“I think we had our chances. We used most of them, some we did not. But in the end, we were not good enough.”