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Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who are thought to be the main contenders for the World Championship this season, have said that their Mercedes and Ferrari cars really are as close performance-wise as many believe.
Vettel took the first win of the year in Australia, suggesting that there will be a legitimate battle for supremacy between Ferrari and Mercedes in 2017. Hamilton, however, took the spoils in Shanghai, indicating how close this battle could be: "We have a slight advantage over them in high speed sections," the Briton said. "In slower corners they seem to be more agile. But I think the two cars are extremely close - and that's fantastic."
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Vettel agrees with his rival about the closeness of the teams: "I'd say we have a good car in any situation but we've seen that they (Mercedes) are particularly strong in qualifying. In Australia I think we had a better car on race day - we could see Lewis was struggling a little with his tyres."
That both drivers are unsure of who is supreme means that F1 again finds itself in a strange position - facing an entire season of potentially unpredictable outcomes.
"It's been a while since battling with Lewis and it's a lot of fun to be back fighting him for poles and wins," added Vettel. "I also like this formula a lot in that you can drive on the limit in the race compared to how it was in the last few years. It's back to how it should be."
Mason Hawker
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (2)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Two talented, world class drivers that will be recognised as legends when they retire.. Lets hope it's close!
boudy
Posts: 1,168
For me they are strange beginings of the 2017 F1 season. Amazed to see that RB are so far behind Ferrari/Mercedes, even after testing I thought that they had something left in the can; but it looks like they haven't. I think the last two races the RB results have better than could have been aspected. The ability of both drivers is shown to be at a top level. For now VER seems to have the edge on RIC. RB is to rely (again!!) on on the fact the they can out-develop their rivals. From the wording from both RB drivers it seems that the RB car is not behaving the way that they aspect which could point to some fundamental issue with the car. Still I am enjoying this F1 season.