MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said Sebastian Vettel's penalty at the Mexican Grand Prix was "too harsh and somehow unfair".

Vettel was stripped of a podium in Mexico after the stewards deemed his defence of position against Daniel Ricciardo to be dangerous. Vettel and Ricciardo were fighting over fourth position on the entry to Turn 4 when the Ferrari squeezed the Red Bull to the inside.

Video footage and telemetry data proved that Vettel made his defensive move once both drivers were on the brakes, which is in breach of a new rule introduced at the U.S. Grand Prix. Ferrari was not able to appeal the decision, but Arrivabene made his thoughts clear in the team's post-race press conference.

"Today could have felt special," he said. "We fully deserved this podium, which was taken away by bureaucracy. The whole team had showed great stamina by staying united and focused in a difficult moment.

"Our strategy had made it possible to make good progress through the race and both drivers did a very good job. Unfortunately, we were penalized by Stewards' unappealable decision which, in my opinion, is too harsh and somehow unfair."

Vettel felt hard done by three laps earlier when Max Verstappen had defended position by skipping Turn 2. Vettel felt Verstappen should have given the position up, but instead the 19-year-old backed the Ferrari driver into Ricciardo, triggering the Turn 4 incident.

"We were quicker, so we put Verstappen under pressure: for sure it was not easy to pass, but he did a mistake, cut the track and didn't give the position back even if he was told to do so," Vettel said. "About the fight with Daniel: I respect him a lot, it is never ideal when you touch. On my defense, I was fighting hard, and trying to give him some space, which I think I did."