Despite some of his more competitive outings in recent weeks, Sebastian Vettel insists that he is not having second thoughts about retiring.

Following an impressive in Japan, where he finished sixth, the German actually led the United States Grand Prix at one stage, and though he subsequently lost out to the faster Red Bulls, Ferrari and Mercedes' he enjoyed a late, dramatic scrap with Kevin Magnussen.

Speaking a week later, the German resisted claims that this, almost Riccardo Patrese-style Indian Summer, might lead to a rethink in terms of his upcoming retirement.

Asked if he was perhaps quitting too early - at 35 he is younger than Lewis Hamilton (37) and Fernando Alonso (39) - he rep[lied: "I don't know if it's a thing in Formula 1 or is it a general thing in our lives nowadays that we... to answer your question: No!

"I thought about this decision long and hard and from a lot of angles," he continued. "But yeah, I don't know if... I find it's a bit sad that we tend to swing so much now.

"I see the benefits of having emotions running high and low rather than just being flat, but I think the judging in general, it's a bit too quick.

"We create a hype and too quickly we create like a massive - I don't want to say disappointment and not because of my situation now, the last races versus maybe the mid part of the season - so it's more of a general thing.

"But yeah, I obviously enjoyed the last two races, last couple of races more than I did maybe some in the mid-part of the season, but they have no impact on the decision," he insisted.

"If anything it's a great reminder of why I love this sport so much, why I love racing so much. I had great races and I really enjoyed them but I also had races that I didn't enjoy so much and I was wishing after five laps to see the chequered flag and it didn't come out.

"So you still have to find the motivation in that and hang in there. But yeah, I wish that sometimes it just wouldn't swing as high and as low."

Asked, given the car's current form, if he now heads into race weekend expecting to score points, he said: "Well, I hope we can carry the momentum.

"Obviously the last races have been good for us in terms of overall pace," he admitted. "We were able to be a little stronger and closer to the points positions.

"Austin, in particular, we've been very competitive, been more competitive than Alpine and McLaren for the first time this year, which was a very good and positive surprise and we hope to keep that up.

"But we have to be realistic," he warned. "This is a different track so we will see how we get on but just looking forward to hopefully sense a good car underneath me and enjoy the racing that I have left."

Check out our Thursday gallery from Mexico City here.