Hamilton and Vettel clash

The on track battle for 2017 may well have finished but Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have continued to clash off track.

The British Mercedes driver beat Germany’s Ferrari driver to the title in 2017, Hamilton’s fourth of his career, equalling Vettel.

The two modern day greats have won their Formula One World Championships in contrasting styles.

Vettel won his in a dominant Red Bull over four consecutive seasons.

Hamilton won his at both McLaren and Mercedes, spread over ten years.

Hamilton has always had to duel for his championships, whether it was a final corner overtake to snatch the title from Felipe Massa or a in the trenches war against Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton embraces competition and relished an inter-team battle with Ferrari in 2017. He would like to see a far more competitive Formula One and far more exciting Grand Prix.

‘From a racing driver’s point of view you just want to be able to race closely like you could in karts,’ said Hamilton. ‘Kart racing is the best form of racing still, because the guys follow each other so closely.

‘The cars this year are the best they’ve ever been. Looking at the next step, I believe Ross [Brawn] and Chase and the teams are really working hard to make sure that the next cars in 2021, they’re even more raw. Hamilton told motorsport.com.

He added: ‘There’s no reason why a GP2 race or F2 or whatever you want to call it should be louder and sound better, and be able to have better racing, and follow closer.

‘And that’s what we’ve somehow got to make in F1, while it’s still faster than the other classes.’

During Vettel’s dominant years he was often criticised for his lack of racing skills. He was quick, that was indisputable, but his race craft was often in question.

With that mindset it’s perhaps not that surprising that he doesn’t agree.

?Some races are boring, so what? I don?t see the problem in that.

‘I don?t think we need another record, another record every race, to have more overtaking and more overtaking.

?It?s true that overtaking sometimes, especially if you’re behind and you’re fast and you can?t get past for those reasons, it annoys you. Vettel motorsport.com.

He concluded: ?Sometimes just relax and calm down and accept a boring race or a boring two races in a row and then there will be another great race after that and another one.?