2018 drivers' runner-up Sebastian Vettel was gracious in defeat after Lewis Hamilton clinched his fifth Formula 1 world championship at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Vettel needed to win all three remaining races with Hamilton outside of the top seven, however, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen taking the victory in Mexico, Vettel finally lost out on being able to overhaul Hamilton.
In the immediate post-race interviews, the Ferrari driver spoke to former F1 driver David Coulthard and even cut his interview short with the Scotsman to go and congratulate Hamilton in person.
Mexican Grand Prix: Race Report | Championship Standings | Hamilton Feature
"I congratulated him," said the German. "I think he drove superb all year and was the better one of us two, I told him well deserved.
"Number five is something incredible, congratulated him and asked him to keep pushing for next year, I need him at his best to keep fighting again."
During the press conference, Vettel was pressed on what it must have felt like to realise the 2018 championship was no longer in his grasp, he added: "It’s a horrible moment.
"You put a lot of work in and okay, I did pay attention in maths, so I could make the numbers, but still you hang in there as long as you can.
"I had three times now in my life that sort of disappointment, in one day you realise that you can’t win the championship anymore and those are not happy days.
"You reflect on not one moment but the whole year, the work that goes in, the effort that goes in from the end of last year until now, we had our chances, we used most of them, maybe some we did not, but in the end, we were not good enough."
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