With five races left and a maximum 125 points to be won, Ferrari's German driver is 59 adrift of reigning champion Lewis Hamilton who chalked up his eighth win of the season in Japan on Sunday.
"If you win the lottery, you become a millionaire," Arrivabene told reporters when asked whether Vettel still had a chance of a fifth career title this year. "To win the lottery you need to be lucky.
"So if we are lucky, yes. But we need to be really lucky," he added.
Vettel, who won his four titles with Red Bull, has won three races so far in his first season with Ferrari and hopes rose that he might have an outside chance after Mercedes slumped in Singapore.
