Ferrari's Vettel, Mercedes' Hamilton call for F1 overtaking changes

After a Brazilian Grand Prix that featured little passing among the frontrunners - although the midfield provided substantially more action - the winners of the last six F1 titles between them insisted solutions existed that could increase action levels if bosses were willing to act.

Vettel said F1 cars simply needed to generate more mechanical grip from better tyres, rather than being so reliant on aerodynamics, to make overtaking more possible among evenly-matched teams.

"In general to follow cars closer, we need more mechanical grip," he said.

"How to do that: we need better tyres and to able to go quicker.

"The drivers want to be quicker. The solution is simple.

"Unfortunately, the situation is political, there are different interests from different people.

"It's fair enough to give Pirelli the chance to improve the tyres but we need to run [test].

"But if we can't agree, it is difficult to make progress.

"Unfortunately, the people who are paying for it are sitting in the grandstands."

Hamilton, who was adamant he had the pace to beat Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to victory at Interlagos if overtaking had been easier, insisted "something has got to change" but doubted his complaints would be heeded.

"At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what we say because it won't happen," he said.

"The big bosses make the decisions and whether or not they are the right ones is another thing.

"For the fans, it's not exciting to watch.

"It is always nice to be at the front, but to be able to race - not just down the field - is what we want to see."

Winner Rosberg was less critical, but agreed changes were necessary.

"We have to improve the sport, though I don't know how the battles were at the back," he said.

"It's always difficult to pass in F1.

"DRS has come on board and that has made progress, but we still have to work."

Vettel added that while he was frustrated, the problem was not unique to F1's current era.

"The bottom line is it wasn't like there was an awful lot more overtaking 10 years ago," he said.

"So it's also not a disaster what we are seeing."