Facing a winless season with Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel admits the team cannot be proud of its season.

Ironically, the last time Sebastian Vettel went a whole season without climbing the top step of the podium was 2014, the same year that Ferrari also last went without a win.

Prior to that, you have to go back to 2007, the German's maiden season in F1, to find him failing to win, while at least Ferrari managed two victories in 2013.

Heading into the final race of the season, at a circuit which has good memories, most notably beating (Ferrari driver) Fernando Alonso to the 2010 title, Vettel admits it has not been a good year.

"We are working very hard, we are very committed," he told reporters at the Yas Marina circuit. "Of course, we wanted something else this year, for many reasons it didn't happen.

"Overall the car has been a good step from last year," he continued. "Our performance was actually better than the results showed at times, but circumstances weren't always the best.

"Nevertheless, we can't be proud of this year," he admitted, "we're not, because we went into this season wanting to fight for the championship."

While this year has been a disappointment, the German, at least publicly, is hopeful for next year, when new regulations should go some way to levelling the playing field.

"The target for next year is very clear," he said. "It's an enormous challenge for all of the teams and ourselves to get the cars ready for next year because there are so many changes.

"Next year the rules are very different and if you look at what's missing this year, we're lacking a little bit of downforce compared to our main competitors. We were making a very good job since the beginning of the year to where we are now, with the power unit and in general, but we are still not exactly where we want to be.

"On Saturdays it is quite obvious that Mercedes still seems to have a little bit of a trick to be able to squeeze out more than other manufacturers," he admitted. "They are probably the two main points we were missing this year, but also two of the points that we will focus on next year. The third, if you want to add, is sometimes we struggle to get the tyres into the window."

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