Sebastian Vettel has joked about refusing to give Max Verstappen any advice on beating Lewis Hamilton, as the Mercedes driver has beaten him.
Verstappen seems to be the next viable rival to Hamilton since Vettel in 2018. This season has been down to the wire so far, with both drivers winning all four races among them.
Vettel failed to beat Hamilton in those two years. Due to that, he refused to give the Red Bull driver advice on how to beat the seven-time champion.
When asked what advice he would give Verstappen, Vettel said, “No advice. Obviously I didn’t succeed, Lewis beat me, so it’s better not to give him any advice!”
“I guess he wants to succeed. It’s a long year, there are a lot of races so, I don’t know, it doesn’t work like this. I’m not giving him any advice,” he asserted.
More horses in the race
With Ferrari bottoming out after 2018, Mercedes’ stranglehold on the sport strengthened. Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas finished first and second respectively for both seasons.
Red Bull, meanwhile, have a winning formula in their hands at the moment. Vettel thinks it is a good thing for F1, and said it added to the competition.
“I didn’t see a big deal of it because I was quite a long way back (on the grid), but I think ultimately they are very close in pace and if you are very close in pace then you are fighting for the same spot on track more often,” he said.
“It’s great if you are fighting for the lead and you have two drivers, two different cars fighting each other. We will see how it pans out over the course of the year.”
More competition is never a bad thing. With Verstappen and Hamilton locking horns with equally fast cars, the rest of the season could be a cracker.