Sebastian Vettel has acknowledged his comment that Formula 1 should bring back V12 engines following his retirement from the R🍬ussian Grand Prix was “very bitter”.

Vettel retired midway through Sunday’s race in Sochi after the MGU-K elemen💙t on his power unit failed, costing him a possible shot at victory after leading the opening stint.

Vettel’s final message before getting out of the car was: “Bring back f**king V12s”, referring to the old engine formu🎃la used by F1 in previous eras. The sport currently uses V6 hybrid power units which are far more complex.

Asked after th🍷e race about his V12s co꧙mment and whether it was a hint of him considering his future, Vettel said it was not “serious” to consider F1 going back to the engine configuration.

“Obviously there is no option. These power units are very com🏅plex from an engineering point of view very fascinating, but obviously I have my stand on it,” Vettel sa𒆙id.

“I ༒don’t think it comes with a great upside for us racing and people watching.

“In that moment, obviously it was very bitter,🌱 because up to that point I thought I drove very well and it was looking like a good afternoon.

“The first reaction w𒆙hen the car breaks down is not always the happie🎐st one.”

ജThe failure left Vettel’s car in an unsafe condition, forcing the German to park his car at the earliest opportunity instead of trying to bring it back t๊o the pits.

By parking up at th𓆉e side of the track at Turn 15, Vettel triggered a Virtual Safety Car period that ultimately cost teammate Charles Leclerc track position to Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

But Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto stressed there was no way o𓂃f Vettel taking the car any further in order to prevent the race being neutralised.

“For safety reasons, we called to stop immediately. Of course it’s a shame, because 100 metres later was [a gap],” Binot𓆏to said.

“But it was the sa🅠fest ac🌌tion we could do for Seb, and the safety aspects.”