Vettel not downbeat despite missing podium

The German had qualified on the second row at Suzuka before grid penalties moved he and teammate Kimi Raikkonen down the order.

Nevertheless, Vettel was able to make a good recovery in the early stages of the race and was locked in a good battle with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for a podium spot.

But his chances evaporated thanks to Ferrari's strategy call to run soft tyres at the end, which dropped him behind Hamilton at his final stop and caused him to fall away in the closing stages of the race.

Even so, Vettel believes the pace of the Ferrari – which was helped by updates – was a boost in its hopes of salvaging second place in the constructors' championship over Red Bull.

"I think there's been a lot of positives this weekend," he said. "Despite the penalty, I think the qualifying was very strong.

"The pace of the car was good in the race was well. We were probably the second-quickest car out there, so there were a lot of positives for sure.

"You cannot be entirely happy because if the podium is for grabs and you don't take it, it always feels a bit disappointing. But as I said, a lot of positives, things that we learned about the car for the future as well.

"If you compare here to Silverstone, which in terms of track characteristics is similar - and also the fact it was quite windy today - stuff like that, I think we've improved big amounts since that time."

Strategy okay

Although a different strategy may have delivered Vettel a podium finish, the German defended Ferrari's decision to try something different.

"We had a great start, and made some good progress in the first couple of laps by gaining two positions," he said.

"Then I think we tried everything to put Max under pressure. He reacted very early in both stops - and we didn't have the freedom in the second stop to pit into traffic with [Daniel] Ricciardo, which he [Max] can, in the worst case, get past very easily.

"Nevertheless, I think at that point we decided to go longer and try something different to come back at the end of the race. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the soft tyre didn't last very long and we lost a position to Lewis.

"But if you look at the gap at the end of the race, I don't think there was anything we could've done to hold him. The gap to the podium was too big."