Sebastian Vettel insists nobody is to blame for Ferrari's late puncture nightmare at the British Grand Prix and says the result is far from a disaster for his title ambitions.

Vettel saw his championship lead reduced from 20 points to one as Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish at Silverstone.

But the real drama played out behind him, with Kimi Raikkonen in second suffering a puncture in the closing stages, before team-mate Vettel experienced the same fate soon after.

Raikkonen returned to rescue a podium finish, while Vettel had to settle for seventh.

But the German says the issues could not have been anticipated and feels Ferrari must not dwell on a difficult weekend.

"I don't think anyone is to blame in hindsight," he told Sky Sports. "At the time it felt okay. Kimi had a similar issue and his tyres were at least five or six laps fresher. It caught us both by surprise.

"[The weekend] could have been a little bit better, for sure, but disaster? I don't think so. We had a good car, especially in the corners, the balance was alright.

"In the race, the brakes caught fire from the start and from then it was a difficult race. Then I couldn't get past Max [Verstappen]. We did it with a pit stop.

"Then it was looking like P3, P4. It was clear Valtteri [Bottas] would get past because I was stuck. Small things here or there led to a busy afternoon."

Vettel was involved in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Verstappen early in the race before successfully performing an undercut.

"It didn't help me at all," he added. "I'm sure it looked good but I wanted to make it past and I didn't so it was quite tricky. I tried everything."