Vettel realistic: Ferrari didn't have pace "to force the victory" from Mercedes

After the Mexican Grand Prix, in which he finished second, Sebastian Vettel thought his team Ferrari simply didn't have the pace to "force the victory" from rivals Mercedes despite the Italian team looking quicker all weekend.

Despite locking out the front-row, Ferrari again didn't manage to convert it into a victory, with Vettel coming second to rival Lewis Hamilton and with the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas holding off young Ferrari star Charles Leclerc for the final podium place.

Asked if he thought a victory would have been deserved for Ferrari, Vettel remained as realistic as he always is, admitting his team just didn't get it right on the day.

"Ultimately, if you are fair, I didn't think we had the speed to force the victory despite the strategy," he told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

Vettel thinks the call of Mercedes to go very long on the hard tyre worked better for the Silver Arrows than expected, as both the German as well as his team were expecting Hamilton and Bottas to start slowing down by the end of the race.

"I think Lewis had nothing to lose so you might as well try and it worked for him.

"We expected the tyres to hit a cliff, sort of, but for him it was fine, he had significantly more laps on it."