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Lewis Hamilton believes that Formula 1 will see a much stronger Sebastian Vettel in 2018, having learned from his mistakes this season. Hamilton beat Vettel to the world championship in 2017, drawing himself level with the German on four titles.
However, Hamilton thinks that Vettel will learn from his mistakes of 2017, such as his deliberate car-to-car attack on Hamilton in Azerbaijan, and triggering a start line crash with teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull's Max Verstappen in Singapore.
Vettel topped the championship standings from the opening round right up until the Italian Grand Prix in September. However, he conceded the title in Mexico, with his race damaged by another opening lap collision - this time with Hamilton himself.
However, Hamilton thinks Vettel will be much stronger next season: "I'm not going to tell you what I've learned but you can see it and I think you guys have learned about him," he said. "He shouldn't shy away from that. He will learn from the experiences, as we all do.
"I have had years like that. He has had years of complete solidity like [mine] this year as well. I imagine next year he's going to be coming back guns blazing, but I don't feel there's anything I can't achieve if I put the work in."
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (5)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Going in "guns blazing" isnt really Vettel's style though.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Not really, no. But he'll probably have to try something, because I don't think Ferrari will produce a faster car than Mercedes, much less keep any advantage they might have at the start of the season throughout the season.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Hopefully is hard racing from the beginning and no ridiculous bromance like this year. It took Vettel pulling the first dirty move to change everything. More than anything else, I hope it's someone other than Vettel fighting Hamilton at the top. I think Verstappen, Alonso, and Ricciardo could actually get under Lewis' skin and create some really spectacular tension. Vettel got just got schooled even in days when he had the faster car.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
If Renault make a decent enough PU you could see that happening. But will they?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I expect Renault to get much stronger during the winter, since they will basically just have to build on the platform they created for 2017. But Im not sure if they'll catch Ferrari, or if they can keep up with Ferrari's and Mercedes' midseason upgrade pace, especially if they'll be as unwilling to upgrade past the midseason point as they've been during 2016 and 2017.