Sebastian Vettel thinks Ferrari was closer to Mercedes than the final result suggested in Austria after he finished fourth due to a botched pit stop.

Vettel had hoped to challenge Mercedes from third in the grid but the world champions were able to ease away from his Ferrari after the opening laps. Kimi Raikkonen's early retirement and Vettel's pit stop issue meant neither Ferrari made the podium for the second race in a row.

Despite seeing another dominant Mercedes one-two Vettel, who finished 18 seconds behind race-winner Nico Rosberg, is remaining upbeat about the team's progress.

"I think it is a lot closer than we have been in the past, we were hoping to be closer to put some pressure on, especially in the opening laps," Vettel said. "But they were very impressive from their side and they were more than three tenths quicker per lap, then I think around the end it was more stabilised around one to three tenths a lap, which closed the gap we had to Williams.

"You are isolated from the running in third, but overall I think we were closer this weekend but unfortunately not close enough to put pressure on them."

Vettel appeared to be cruising to a routine third position before a problem at his pit stop delayed him and allowed Felipe Massa to leapfrog him. Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene admitted it was similar to issue which saw Kimi Raikkonen have a slow stop in Australia.

"We had a problem with the wheel nut, and it's not the first time so we have now to make sure that it does not happen again," Arrivabene said. "It was not the problem of the mechanics that he was sending, it was our problem and we have to make sure we fix it."

Vettel had the chance to reclaim third position in the closing stages after catching Massa. However, once he got into DRS range he was unable to get close enough to pass and he praised the Brazilian for the way he drove under pressure.

"Last year the Williams was one of the hardest cars to overtake because they were so quick on the straights," Vettel said. "There are always two lines around a corner, the quick line but because he stayed on line, it was difficult. Where you want to pass is on the straight or under braking but it was difficult to get close enough. I tried to push him into some mistakes, small mistakes, but there was never really a mistake that allowed me to."