Vettel: Mercedes very good at telling us their car is inferior

At Sochi Autodrome on Saturday, Mercedes turned up the wick and dominated qualifying with a resounding front row lockout with Ferrari not even close on the day. Valtteri Bottas' pole-winning lap was over half a second faster than Vettel's best effort, with Hamilton four tenths up on his title rival.

In the race, such was the dominance of the silver cars that the Mercedes pitwall had the comfort of issuing team orders to the benefit of their title contender Lewis Hamilton, while Vettel could only manage third and thus the Briton's advantage jumped from 40 points to 50 with five races remaining.

Vettel acknowledged, “Obviously it’s not nice to have a gap like that, but then I think I’ve been way more realistic about the gaps in general and the performance between the cars. I know we have a great car, I’m not doubting that, but I believe their car is very strong too and has been very strong."

Nevertheless, in boxing parlance, Vettel is on the ropes with Hamilton pounding away.

The German believes Mercedes have deliberately kept the full potential of the W09 on a leash while downplaying its capabilities, “I think the other side have been very good at communicating that they have an inferior car but I don’t think that was the case."

Earlier in the season, Ferrari appeared to have the upper hand but a series of unfortunate events, most of them self-induced, has allowed Mercedes to maximise their points haul at the expense of the reds. In other words, Hamilton raised his game to a new level of excellence and at the same time capitalised on Vettel's mistakes.

In the run down to the season finale the canvas is beckoning for dazed Vettel, in contrast, Hamilton is energised by winning unexpected rounds and, coupled to his tendency to take it up a notch when it matters, is now bobbing and weaving, looking to land that knockout punch.

Although the Ferrari driver looks unlikely to even take the bout to Round 21, he remains positive, "I think it’s always been very close. We will see. We have a strong car, we know that, a car that we can work with."

“I think it’s been a reasonable match. There’s been qualifying sessions where we’ve had the upper hand by a tiny bit and they had the upper hand by a little bit."

"Sometimes also a bit more like [Russia] or France or other races. I think we have a good car, we need to make sure we keep improving it.”

Years ago the silver screen's much-loved pugilist, Rocky Balboa inadvertently summed up Vettel's crisis: “Life's not about how hard of a hit you can give... it's about how many you can take, and still keep moving forward.”