Sebastian Vettel admitted he was pushing too hard when he spun out of the Mexican Grand Prix and ruled out a failure on the car.
Vettel's race ended in the Turn 7 barriers when he lost control of the rear of the car on corner entry. The accident came as Vettel was on a recovery drive from an early puncture, but he thinks Ferrari had strong pace in Mexico.
"I saw the replay of my crash, because I wanted to understand it, but there was nothing wrong with the car," he said. "I went in with more or less the same speed as usual but lost the car suddenly. It was similar to the first time I lost control. We know it has been tricky all weekend but I cannot blame the conditions or the circuit. In the end it was my mistake, probably just asking a bit too much and once you lose the grip, depending on where it happens, it can be very costly.
"I can't be happy with how the day went. Obviously with the puncture in the first lap the race was pretty much lost. Without any Safety Car I couldn't really come back. The car was generally good to drive, the pace was very strong, but unfortunately we were not in a position to prove that. I think we were closer to Mercedes than in the last races but in the end we didn't see the chequered flag, so it was not a good day."
But Vettel thinks Ferrari would have needed another couple of tenths per lap to really challenge Mercedes in a straight fight.
"I think our pace was closer to Mercedes thanks to the conditions of the track. It could have been a very good race, but, in the end, it wasn't. I don't know if there was anyone that could have put them under pressure, we maybe needed another couple of tenths. When I was with them, one lap down, we had a similar pace and it looked like they were pushing."