Sebastian Vettel has said that he hopes Verstappen will beat Hamilton without facing the problems that he did a few years ago.
The German driver has won four World Championships with Red Bull. After his golden years with the Milton-Keynes team, he moved to Scuderia Ferrari. While in Maranello, Sebastian Vettel went to head to head with Lewis for the Championship several times.
He was never able to beat Hamilton’s Mercedes in his 5 years with Ferrari. However, he has recently admitted that his title hopes were usually diminished in the later races due to the performance of his car.
Now with Aston Martin, Vettel is enjoying this title fight between Verstappen and Hamilton. The veteran driver hopes that the Dutchman can avoid the same fate and go on to win his first World Championship.
The last time Vettel fought for the title was back in 2019. He endured a difficult 2020 with Ferrari and is currently struggling in the midfield with Aston Martin. The Heppenheim born driver sits 12th in the Drivers’ Championship this season.
Lewis Hamilton on the edge, Sebastian Vettel defending with all his might ⚔️
What a battle it was between these two drivers! 🤯#RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1EUjFu1z0F
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 23, 2021
Lewis simply had the better car, says Sebastian Vettel
“I think rivalry is good for any sport,” Vettel told RacingNews365.com. “I’m a huge fan of rivalry with respect, and I think we’re seeing a very clean fight so far.”
“I hope that Max has a better car at the end, or better position to be in at the very end, because during the fights that I was in with Lewis, unfortunately we were not as competitive to really give him a hard time in the end”, he said.
“So I think it was quite clear and fairly easy for him to win the championship in the end.” Sebastian, along with the rest of the drivers have been enjoying this colossal Championship tussle though, he admitted.
“I think generally we are all enjoying this,” Vettel said. “We would all like to be in their position and fighting for the championship when the season comes to a close.”
Verstappen is currently 6 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings while Mercedes sits 36 points ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ standings. With just 6 races to go, the end to the 2021 season promises to be absolutely exhilarating.