Sebastian Vettel thinks he could have won the U.S. Grand Prix with a little more luck after his 2015 title hopes mathematically ended with third place in Austin.
Vettel came to Texas knowing he would be out of the running if Lewis Hamilton outscored him by nine points or more, which the Mercedes driver did by winning the race. A drying track and numerous safety car periods created a chaotic race that Vettel, who started 14th after an engine penalty, at one point looked to be in prime position to win after a gutsy call to take on medium tyres at the deployment of the first safety car on lap 11.
Vettel was initially the fastest man on track and soon dispatched the Red Bulls at the restart, but the gamble appeared to have not paid off when another safety car was triggered on lap 36.
Explaining the decision to take on medium tyres when he did, Vettel said: "I think it was the right thing to do given where we were and given that we wanted to make our chance last as long as possible. If there was a chance then we need to do it. When the safety car came, that was gone. We saw with the option tyre that we had the same problem with a lot of graining; first lap's amazing and then the laps after that falling off quite dramatically; with a green track that's what happens.
"I think I had a good chance.Already after four or five laps on the medium tyre I was doing the same lap times as the guys in front. A shame it didn't work out but in a race like this I think all three of us [on the podium] got lucky with the timings because it can sometimes work against you."
The result meant Hamilton claimed his third world championship, one fewer than Vettel's current tally. Vettel says Ferrari will continue to learn from the things it could have done better this year as it looks to take the fight to Hamilton and Mercedes in 2016.
"This season we've looked at what we can do better, here and there to squeeze a bit more out, I think we did a fantastic job and much better than everyone expected but it's still not great when you lose the fight for the world championship. Congratulations, this is Lewis' day and he deserved to win the championship."