Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were great rivals during their time on track. But as time passed, the hostility cooled and a genuine friendship developed.
The two drivers entered F1 in the same year, though Vettel wouldn’t arrive until midway through the 2007 season. Hamilton, who’s three years older, was slightly further up the ladder, and he won the title in 2008.
Vettel graduated from Toro Rosso to the Red Bull team in 2009, and the following year he prevailed in a four-way title fight that also featured the McLaren driver. Over the next three seasons, Hamilton tried to end the dynasty, but it proved untouchable.
The pair then made seismic moves, with Hamilton joining Mercedes and Vettel switching to Ferrari. The former enjoyed dominant machinery following the switch to V6 turbo/hybrids, and though Vettel won 14 races for the Scuderia, he wasn’t able to break Mercedes’ seven-title streak.
Ferrari privately suspected Vettel wasn’t as quick as Hamilton, so they brought in Charles Leclerc as a new benchmark. Leclerc effectively ended his teammate’s career at Maranello by beating him in 2019, and Vettel resettled at Aston Martin.
He spent the final two seasons of his career in the midfield. Hamilton recently called Vettel ‘the best world champion I know’, a sign that their off-track activism has brought them closer.
Lewis Hamilton says Sebastian Vettel is right – everyone is a Ferrari fan
Hamilton has now emulated Vettel by leaving the team where he achieved greatness to join Ferrari. He wants to win a record-breaking eighth world championship in their colours.
Vettel once famously said that ‘everyone is a Ferrari fan’, ‘even if they say they’re not’. In an interview with Channel 4 F1, Billy Monger put that quote to Hamilton.
Hamilton made his first international appearance as a Ferrari driver this week when he returned to the UK for the F1 75 event in London. He received the loudest cheers of the night.
Sky Sports reporter Craig Slater spotted plenty of British F1 fans wearing Ferrari red. He says this was an unusual sight before Hamilton’s move.
“I can’t speak for everyone, but I do think so,” the 105-time race-winner said in response to Vettel’s quote. “Everywhere I’ve travelled round the world, you see the passion for the brand.
“The great thing about our sport is that there are fans for many of the different teams, but there’s just no team and no brand like Ferrari. The passions are high and [there are] very, very excited and emotional people here, which is great to see.”
Why Lewis Hamilton has developed a newfound respect for Sebastian Vettel after joining Ferrari
It’s recently emerged that Vettel tried to make a comeback for the 2025 F1 season. However, Helmut Marko stepped in to prevent it, concerned that the German was about to damage his legacy.
Vettel won four world championships during his career to establish himself as an all-time great. He never achieved his ultimate goal at Ferrari but he does rank third on their all-time wins list, only behind Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda.
| RANK | DRIVER | WINS |
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | 72 |
| 2 | Niki Lauda | 15 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | 14 |
| 4 | Alberto Ascari | 13 |
| =5 | Felipe Massa | 11 |
| =5 | Fernando Alonso | 11 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | 10 |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello | 9 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | 8 |
| =10 | Jacky Ickx | 6 |
| =10 | Gilles Villeneuve | 6 |
The first of those victories came at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix, just his second outing for the team. Mercedes were dominant that year but Vettel and Ferrari outwitted them strategically in Sepang.
Hamilton has even more respect for Vettel, he said this week, after seeing just how much work is needed to adapt to the Italian team. He still has a lot to do before he can begin to think about an early race win.
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