Beating Valtteri Bottas in the championship and first preparations for 2018 are now the motivations for Sebastian Vettel over the final two races, according to the German.

The Ferrari driver saw hopes of a first championship with the Scuderia end in Mexico, though is still confident it is a goal he will achieve, as first lap contact with Lewis Hamilton left him too much time to make up to continue the fight on to this weekend in Brazil.

Rather than reflect on what could have been, the 30-year-old insists the atmosphere remains upbeat inside the Scuderia with attention already on looking to make up for this year's shortfalls.

“The morale is good," he said. "Obviously time passes and it helps but for sure in the moment it was a very big disappointment after the race especially, but yeah, we come here as a different race, a new challenge, so plenty to look forward to.

“The target is to come back stronger next year and have an even better season. Overall, there’s been a lot of positives but for sure if you lose out on the fifth world championship then initially the disappointment is bigger.”

There is still a key win Vettel and Ferrari can score and that is to end Mercedes' run of four consecutive one-two finishes at the top of the Drivers' standings with 15 points between himself and Valtteri Bottas.

“Well [motivation] may be a bit different but I think the moment you step in the car you want to do the best you can, that’s something that we all have inside us so it’s not that different,” he claimed, looking ahead to Brazil.

“We’re trying to improve the car this year to help also next year so the development is ongoing and, for sure, in terms of this year it’s not over yet, we still have the challenge to seal second place, that’s the priority right now.

“Obviously we have two races, we want to do them as well as we can as a team. A lot of work ahead, and a lot of things that we can learn for this year and also take it on board for next year.”