Vettel: I'm not too stressed about it

Despite suffering a resounding defeat by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel says he is not stressing over the fact that he trails in the championship standings for the first time since the start of the season.

Vettel told reporters after the race at Monza where he finished third, "I think we probably lacked something like half a second per lap, but there's not all the parts of the race you can judge. I'm not worried too much about the gap. As I said before, Monza is a specific place. If you have that extra bit and confidence then it makes a big difference. So, I'm not too stressed about it."

Vettel crossed the finish line over half a minute adrift of race winner Hamilton, in one of the team's weakest performances of the season.

Vettel explained, "We probably knew it would be a difficult race. Probably expected as well that we would be closer but all in all, it's not nice to see them two winning but I think with the third position, at least we gave everything we had and that's the most important."

Monza was awash with red, the tifosi and the team's senior management expectant. But they all went home disappointed that their team was no match for the Silver Arrows during the course of the weekend.

Vettel added, "We gave everything for the people out there. The support has been amazing and, despite the numbers, the gap, you can name the negatives but I'm very, very positive right now, to be honest."

"I know that people are going into the office tomorrow more committed than before. The spirit is there, we just need to keep it up. It's a journey, we see where it takes us.

"It's been a long way that the team has come from three years ago but we are nowhere near satisfied despite maybe having had a good season so far, it's not good enough. Ferrari needs to be at the front and Ferrari needs to be on top of everything."

"So that's where we want to go. For sure, Mercedes are giving us a very, very hard time, especially at the moment, but we'll see. It's a long journey still," said Vettel who now lies second in the championship, three points adrift of top spot.

In the constructors' championship Ferrari are second, trailing Mercedes by 62 points.