“I don’t think it is currently the case”– Sebastian Vettel dismisses Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen teammate support concept

Sebastian Vettel thinks their teammates are hardly factoring in the competition between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

In the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, there is more than one segment involved. Even their teammates Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez are perceived to be crucial aspects of the competition.

Though, Sebastian Vettel thinks that the idea of the teammates helping the two is exaggerated. And the competition this year has hardly been affected by that, and that the duo shouldn’t also rely on them.

“Mark was obviously in the title fights as well, and I don’t know how it is if the other guy supports you or the team has an evident role,” remarked Vettel. “[At Red Bull] It never got to that point.

“We were too close, I guess, in terms of points, and it was never that clear that it was only one car, one driver in the second half of the season. In general, I am not a big fan of devoting the second driver to help, which I don’t think is currently the case.

“Maybe it is a little bit hyped but I think everybody should race for his own race and you should fight for your own championship. I’m quite happy that I didn’t have great support.”

“I don’t mean this negative to Mark, but just that I had to do it on my own because looking back I am very proud of what I achieved. I achieved it on my own and not because I was helped.”

Also read: Sebastian Vettel says that he does not consider Formula 1 drivers to be ‘stars’

Sebastian Vettel will do better

Meanwhile, Vettel’s first year in Aston Martin hasn’t been impressive, but the team principal Otmar Szafneuer is optimistic about his marquee driver’s abilities.

He claims that Vettel would do better if he had a better car. He regrets that he can’t give a competitive car enough to him, and feels he is doing fantastic so far.

“Seb is doing a great job for us,” Szafnauer told Motorsport-Magazin. “We really enjoy working with him. It’s really unfortunate that we couldn’t give him a competitive car to drive at the front because of the circumstances we found ourselves in.”

“If we give him a better car, then he will also do his job in the car.”

Also read: Sebastian Vettel says he is not looking forward to visiting Saudi Arabia for the next round of Formula 1

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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