Lewis Hamilton won his forth Formula One title this year to go level with Vettel and Alain Prost in the all-time standings.

Only Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Michael Schumacher (7) have won more titles.

German Vettel hasn’t won the Drivers’ Championship since 2013 and finished 46 points behind Hamilton this year.

But the Ferrari driver is confident he can challenge the Brit next year by being a bit wiser on the track.

Asked if he enjoyed racing Hamilton this season, Vettel said: "Yes, definitely.

"There is no doubt about his skill and his speed. He's very quick and he doesn't do many mistakes.

"Jacques [Villeneuve] said [Michael] Schumacher was the best one and the hardest one to fight against.

"It's exactly that, if you fight against the best, it elevates you onto the next level.

"A lot of the things that I did back then, they were right, but today thinking a bit different or just a bit wiser, I hope so, will allow me to do better."

Vettel admitted earlier this week his team had made mistakes over the course of the season but is confident they can put them right and put up a stronger challenge in the future.

“In the end we weren’t good enough to take it to the last race and take the championship,” he said.

“I think we know what we need to do.

“There are lessons that were obvious, some were a bit more hidden but I’m sure we’ll dig deep enough and try to find all of them.”

The 2018 F1 season kicks off in Melbourne in March.