Vettel: If we win every race from now we are safe

Speaking after the defeat at the Singapore Grand Prix, where he finished third while title rival Lewis Hamilton bagged the win, Vettel said, "We’re not playing a silly game.

"We’re quite serious and it’s quite tough competition, so the level of competition is very high and if you have the slightest mistake obviously there are people there who are usually there to benefit from it. You know the race that we had showed that Max was there straight away to benefit."

"Maybe sometimes you are lucky and it’s not showing as crucial but it caught us and what we tried didn’t work and also caught us out so it didn’t help but I’m happy to try, I’m happy to try being aggressive to try and win. That was the ambition and especially on a track where it’s difficult to pass you need to try and figure something out."

Despite trailing Hamilton by 40-points with six rounds remaining, the Ferrari driver is not panicking, "It’s not what we wanted, in the end it’s what we got so we need to look back and see what we could have done better. I think overall we had a good car, we were a bit slower but we had a different race as well so it’s difficult to compare."

"We can’t say we did everything right. I think where we were, we tried, it didn’t work. We started third and finished third, we didn’t lose anything but we also didn’t gain anything."

"We are a team so we try and whatever we want to achieve, we achieve it together. Obviously, it’s not great when you come to the end of the championship and you’re losing points rather than making up points, but we still have a lot of races left and some time to go."

"I think it’s pretty straightforward, if we win every race from now then we are safe. So that’s what we need to aim for," added Vettel.