Lewis Hamilton’s rivalry with Sebastian Vettel more than a decade ago was fascinating.
Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton made their Formula 1 debuts less than a year apart.
The German was called upon by BMW Sauber to fill in for the injured Robert Kubica at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, and was immediately signed by Red Bull and placed at Toro Rosso to replace Scott Speed.
Hamilton made his debut with McLaren at the start of that campaign, and won the race in Indianapolis, where Vettel made his F1 bow, scoring the final point that day.
By the time Vettel started driving for Red Bull, Hamilton was already a world champion, but McLaren were beginning to fall behind.
What followed was a period of dominance for Vettel and Red Bull, and reflecting on this during his rival’s fourth and final title-winning season in 2013, Hamilton explained why he had more respect for his hero Ayrton Senna than his on-track challenger.
Lewis Hamilton says he had more respect for Ayrton Senna than Sebastian Vettel due to racing conditions
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Hamilton was speaking about Vettel’s dominance and said: “If you watch Sebastian Vettel now, he always runs over the astroturf and over the kerb a little more than he should, going beyond the white line, which you’re not actually allowed to do, but they let you get away with it.
“In Senna’s day, if he went one foot over that kerb, it would be grass and he would spin, and be penalised. He would be right on the limit, rather than over the limit — and I respect that style of driving more.
“Now you can go beyond and get back because modern tracks have run-off areas. They used to be gravel. Hit that, and your car was damaged or stuck. Now you can push beyond, go wide and come back on.
“When you do and get away with it, you think, ‘Great’, but the reason I love street circuits like Monaco is that there is no room for error, and if you make a mistake, you pay. I don’t want people to pay by being hurt, but losing time, or having the car stop; that’s what racing is about.
“That’s why you’ve got to have so much admiration for the guys who did it back then. I like that it’s safer now, but the cars then were raw — they had a gear stick. You watch Senna at Monaco, and he’s one-handed most of the time, oversteering. That’s really cool. So cool.
“I think that would have brought a lot more out of me, the time before the driver aids came in.”
Sebastian Vettel named Lewis Hamilton as his biggest Formula 1 rival after retiring
Vettel’s domination of Formula 1 was immediately followed by Hamilton winning six of the next seven drivers’ championships.
No driver has ever won so many titles in such a short amount of time as Hamilton between 2014 and 2020.
Max Verstappen looks unlikely to catch Oscar Piastri in the championship this year, bringing his four-year spell at the top to an end, meaning he would need to immediately return to winning ways next season to stand a chance of matching Hamilton’s achievement.
Although Hamilton and Vettel didn’t always see eye to eye when they were racing, they have had immense respect for each other in recent years.
Vettel defended Hamilton from the crowd in Canada in 2019 after the pair collided.
Speaking ahead of his retirement from the sport in 2022 on Formula 1’s official website, Vettel was asked who his toughest rival was across his 15 years in the sport and said: “Lewis, especially when I was at Ferrari. Lewis has always been right up there. Before that, it was probably Fernando [Alonso] when he was at Ferrari.”
It would be interesting to know who Hamilton would name if he were to walk away from F1 at the end of this season.
Fernando Alonso would certainly appear on his list, as would Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen.
Hamilton will hope he’s got one more title rivalry to create before he retires, but that all hinges on how competitive he and Ferrari are next season.