Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits the German camp was "rattled" after a three-way scuttle at Turn 1 on the opening lap of the race set back Lewis Hamilton's race.
As Max Verstappen muscled his way past Vettel, the Ferrari driver was then challenged by Hamilton, but doing his best to hang on, the German's front wing made contact with Mercedes, forcing both men to pit after the first lap.
"I hated every bit of that race," Mercedes boss Wolff told Sky F1.
"It was really bad and too long. I think we were rattled after the beginning, the crash.
"In the car you don't know what's happening, is Sebastian still in the race? Can he score points? After a while we explained the situation to him [Hamilton]and we were all focused on making the best out of it."
As events unfolded, the race proved once again that nothing can be taken for granted, as Wolff has often emphasized this season.
He also believed that in normal circumstances, a penalty would have like been thrown Vettel's way for his clumsy contact with Hamilton at the start.
"You have this massive gap in points and people say 'it's done' but it's not. It's motor racing and then you have this incident and Sebastian could have won and we could have DNF'd.
"The championship is at stake and I think in normal conditions there would have been a penalty. But it's the final race and the [title] decider.
Nevertheless, Wolff insisted the day's positive result, beyond how it was achieved, was a huge relief.
"Max knew there was so much at stake for the other two," said the Austrian.
"For Lewis and Sebastian it's extremely difficult because you have to win the race and if you bail out of everything then it's not what we are here for.
"The relief is huge. During the race you have mixed feelings, it's bittersweet because you're not where you should be. You could lose it and then it drags to Sao Paulo. It's a big relief now."
