Vettel: Hamilton's titles not solely down to strong cars
- Published on 17 Oct 2019 12:02
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Sebastian Vettel doesn't believe that Lewis Hamilton's world championship titles solely come down to him having a strong car.
Hamilton is on course to claim his sixth drivers' championship this year as he boasts a 64 point lead in the standings with four rounds to go, which would mark his third in a row and fifth with Mercedes.
In the opening three years of the hybrid era that began in 2014, Mercedes had the undisputed fastest car in the field, which delivered Hamilton two world titles.
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Vettel challenged Hamilton for the championship in 2017 and 2018 but lost out, and Ferrari struggled to produce a car capable of challenging Mercedes in the opening half of the 2019 season, allowing the Silver Arrows to streak away.
When asked if he thinks Hamilton deserves his titles, Vettel replied: "He does. I think obviously Mercedes has had the best car over the last couple of years and I think there are other drivers who have had a good chance at winning, a championship, the championship, whichever you talk about.
"But it's more than that, it's the combination of that. As much as I didn't enjoy the years he was winning, especially when we were fighting, not so much towards the end as I would have loved to, you have to appreciate the fact that it's the combination."
Vettel added that the work that Mercedes and Hamilton have done over the last handful of years has turned it into a force that is "very difficult to beat".
"It's not just Lewis, it's not just Mercedes, it's the combination too that has got to a point where they are very, very difficult to beat, very consistent and very little errors," Vettel admitted.
"So credit to him, credit to the team. I don't think you can separate the two, it's only fair to mention the two of them."
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Replies (7)
Login to replyessaouira311
Posts: 158
If anything, Seb is really generous with LH. He speaks the truth.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
they're both generous to each other. great to see
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
this is true... same applies to seb and his red bull days
f1ski
Posts: 726
It’s a large part of it. Mercedes has finished 1,2 in the drivers competition. And the driver lineup was no worse than that of rbr. I seem to recall that the Red Bull often didn’t win in qualifying but won it on track.
With Vettel driving. Lewis has always been fast. His weakness was tire wear and managing his pace. The Mercedes has allowed him to manage that because there was no need to push. I like to put it out there that if he had seb alonso or Verstappen as teammates the last 6 seasons he would have won 50%
Pistonhead
Posts: 556
Vettel is a class act, albeit he can be a hot head and this is where he differs from lewis. The best drivers get in the best cars, simple.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I agree. I tend to feel we underestimate the top drivers compared to the others and waft it away by narrowing it down to only the cars differentiating them. Vettel, Leclerc, Hammy and Max are all on a different level compared to the others.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
@calle by the same token I also think we underestimate drivers that are not in winning cars. For example I think Ricciardo's stock took a beating this year. I still think he is top talent.