Sebastian Vettel says he needs some time for himself during the winter break after an “exhausting”💦 2018 Formula 1 season.

The Ferrari driver claimed five victories and pole positions across the year but was ultimately beaten to the 2018 championship crown by Lewis Hamilton with two races🐎 to spare in Mexico.

Following last weekendඣ’s season-finale in Abu Dhabi, where Vettel finished second to Hamilton, the German said he was looking forward to h🍎aving a much-needed break.

"W🐼e've got some events coming but things that I look forward to, after this year, to be very honest, is to turn everything off,"

"I need some time for myself. It has been a quite difficult and exhausting year for me. I def🌸initely need a bit of a gap.

"I'm pretty sure, based on the last winters, that very soon,ಌ usually after 111 days, I'm very, very hungry again for the ꦓnext race."

When asked how he plans to spend his time away, Vettel replied: “Just enjoy home. Enjoy my family, friends, do stuff that you don't usually have much time for, some DIY, do some f🧸ixing at home. Small jobs."

Vettel led the championship standings after the opening 10 races but a series of high-profile errors - most notably crashing out the lead in Germany and suffering first-lap spins in Italy, Japan and the United Sta꧃tes - tainted his campaign.

He finished 88 pꦫoints adrift of Hamiltღon in the championship after winning just one race in the final 11 rounds, while the Mercedes driver took eight victories and seven poles, finishing off the podium just once in a dominant end to the campaign.

"Loo🍬king back I haven't 💛been at the top of my game," Vettel admitted. "I can be better than I was at times this year.

"I don't think I ever had any prob🐈lems rꦉaising my hand if I made a mistake. I don't think I need to change things upside down but certainly I can adjust and get stronger.

"Having said that though, I think we als🍷o had a lot of races where we got everything out of the car and the package and I felt that I did everything I could."