Vettel vows to "come back stronger" in 2019

Vettel started the season in dominant fashion, as the German won the first two races in Australia and Bahrain, and he remained strong for the first half of the season. He led the championship after the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, which he won, but that was the last race he would win. 

Hamilton went on an incredible winning streak, winning in places nobody thought Mercedes would be able to, including Monza, Ferrari's back garden. The Brit was simply unstoppable in the business end of the season, and Vettel knows this, as he conceded that the Mercedes driver was the better man.

“Lewis is the champion and he deserves to be the champion,” he told David Coulthard after climbing out of his Ferrari.

“It has been a tough year. 

"I tried everything to the last lap, catching little by little but he controlled the pace at the front. I would have liked it to be a bit more wheel-to-wheel."

Then, the 31-year-old vowed that both he and his team will come back stronger next year, as they try to win their first title in over a decade.

“I will try, we will try, the whole team, to come back stronger and give him a harder run into next year.”