Nico Rosberg defeated Lewis Hamilton in the 2016 season ending the Briton’s two years of dominance in the sport. But soon after his special day, Rosberg decided to retire from the sport.
He left a vacant seat at the Silver Arrows and therefore a task for the team to find a suitable teammate for their ace. Sebastian Vettel, who drove a Ferrari at the time, had made the list of choices to replace Rosberg.
The 4-time world champion who has now taken retirement told Sports Illustrated that he had spoken to Niki Lauda at the time to discuss a possible move to Mercedes.
However, the talks did not proceed further even though it was big deal, Vettel explained. Though he wasn’t sure if the team would have liked to have Vettel alongside Hamilton since the Briton was their top driver.
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Why didn’t Sebastian Vettel move to Mercedes?
It is no secret that Vettel admires F1 legend Michael Schumacher and just like his idol he wanted to win a title with the Scuderia since it’s a historic team and every driver wishes to be a Ferrari driver someday.
Similarly, Vettel had the dream to make his stint at Ferrari work. He revealed that even though he did talk to Lauda about the possibilities, it was nothing serious.
Although he thinks that his joining Mercedes would have been a great challenge and he would have enjoyed that but he believes, “it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Nevertheless, the German driver’s focus was to win with Ferrari and he didn’t want to change the team.
Sebastian Vettel ⚔️ Lewis Hamilton
🎥 x @F1
pic.twitter.com/eRDIHGwaq0— Aerodinamik F1 (@aerodinamikF1) January 1, 2023
Lewis Hamilton warns Max Verstappen
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has taken two consecutive championship titles in the past two years. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has had a difficult year in the 2023 season with the W13.
But Hamilton is not too disappointed with how his last season turned out to be instead he acknowledged the progress that the team made over the season.
Speaking to the Bild, the Briton said that the team had so many successes in the past that it felt a little empty when they encountered a problem.
Furthermore, the Briton went on to explain how difficult it is to get to the top and stay there and issued a sly warning to his rival, Verstappen.
He said, “I know how hard it is to be at the top and stay there.”
Also Read: Christian Horner once had to fight with Ron Dennis to get Adrian Newey to Red Bull
