Vettel and Hamilton have had plenty of battles between 2015 and 2020. They have fought for race wins and pole positions. There was also some heated rivalry for the 2017 World Title.
The four-time World Champion is heading for retirement and is planning on making the 2022 campaign his last as an F1 driver.
In an interview, he was asked to name who he thought was the biggest rival of his F1 career. He 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.”
He also mentioned driver Fernando Alonso.
“Fernando doesn’t need any advice. I’m not sure he’s taking any advice, but he doesn’t need it anyway. He’s been around for so long and seen so much – he’ll be fine,” added Vettel.
Vettel has had a challenging couple of seasons while driving for Aston Martin. He was also asked if he was willing to stay longer in F1 if he had a better machine to work with. He said:
“I don’t know. Would I be retiring if I had been very competitive over the last three or four years: winning races, fighting for championships – maybe winning another one?”
“I might have come to the same decision. Equally, I might not have. It’s impossible to say, but it has crossed my mind.”
“Finishing 10th doesn’t give me a buzz because I know how it feels to finish first. If you’ve never finished first, the first time you finish 10th you get a real buzz. But I’m happy that I don’t get a buzz from finishing 10th.”
“I still love the sport. I still love racing. The decision to retire was a tough one, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I know how much commitment this sport requires, and I feel like it’s a good time to do other things.”