Ricciardo was forced to retire from the Abu Dhabi finale with a hydraulic failure on his Red Bull, having run ahead of Raikkonen, whose fourth place at the finish meant he beat Ricciardo by five points.

When asked how disappointed he was to lose fourth in the point standings, he told NBC: "If I'm brutally honest, with that car he should have been a long way in front in the championship.

"So, yeah, I don't think it's a big deal."

Ricciardo said his fifth retirement of the season due to mechanical failure was only more painful due to the time gap before the 2018 season opener in Australia.

"This one hurts actually, probably more than the others," he said. "Obviously I was gutted in Austin, but we had another chance in a week's time, but I don't have another chance until March now.

"It's just reliability, nothing I could have done to prevent it. Pretty bitter way to end the season to be honest. Sure, we had some highs but we finished in a bit of a trench."