Sebastian Vettel chose to be reflective as he defended Ferrari following a spark plug problem in the engine which forced him to retire from the Japanese Grand Prix after just four laps and saw his main rival Lewis Hamilton move to within touching distance of the 2017 Formula 1 championship.

The German had looked set to take the fight to the Mercedes as he lined up alongside him on the front row, however, indications of a problem began before the race began with his mechanics unable to fix it in time.

Vettel would then be massively down on power on the straights losing several places before the call came to return the garage for what was his second retirement in three races plus the turbo problem which left him at the back of the grid in Sepang.

"It's normal to be critical, especially if things go wrong because it's part of our job, but I need to protect them [Ferrari] - they've done an incredible job so far [this year],”  Vettel told Sky Sports.

"It's just a pity in the two races with the reliability issues, but it's like that sometimes and of course I'm disappointed, but now it's important to get some rest and give my all for the last four races and see what happens.”

With Hamilton taking his eighth win of the season, the Briton has now opened up a 59-point lead in the championship standings raising the prospect he could become the champion as soon as the next race in Austin should Lewis win and Vettel is lower than fifth.

But the four-time world champion is refusing to give in, maintaining confidence in the Scuderia going forward.

"We still have a chance this year. Obviously, it's not as much in our control as we like but overall I think the team is in a good way,” he claimed. "We are improving race by race and we got a lot further than people thought so for sure there are some positives, but today is not the day for that.”

Ferrari would later confirm the issue was a failure of one of the spark plugs in the V6 engine but would point to the performance of Kimi Raikkonen, who improved from 10th to fifth in the race.

"Kimi’s performance proved that the team and the car are capable of getting the job done and until the maths says it’s over, we will keep trying," they said

“The number five car (Vettel) was called back into the pits and the mechanics tried to fix the problem. However, a few minutes later Seb climbed out of the cockpit. A spark plug was broken and it was pointless to go on.”