Vettel unhappy with Turkey race strategy
The German started from pole position, but very early in the race let eventual winner Jenson Button past due to a mistake.
Vettel suggested to reporters after the race that his three-stopper would only have worked if he had managed to maintain the lead and pull out a gap to the dominant championship leader.
In the second stint, Vettel's three-stopper had a final chance to work when he sped up to the rear of Button's Brawn, but he couldn't get past the Briton.
Button admitted that it "really was" a surprise that Red Bull didn't decide to switch Vettel to the more orthodox two-stopper.
"Staying on a three stop didn't make much sense and I basically lost the race to Mark (Webber) as well, so all in all we probably didn't do the best job," said the 21-year-old German.
Vettel's deficit to Button is now 32 points.