Revealed: What Vettel said to Hamilton after Mexico GP

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that Sebastian Vettel looked ahead to a potential battle between the two in 2019 after the Mercedes driver wrapped up his fifth world title at the Mexican Grand Prix. Hamilton and Vettel have gone toe-to-toe for two seasons now, with the German keen for another crack at dethroning his rival next year.

Vettel had to win in Mexico to keep any title hopes alive, but he finished second to Max Verstappen, while Hamilton secured a fifth-place finish that was enough to render the Ferrari's efforts immaterial.

The German cut short his podium interview in order to congratulate Hamilton and later visited the Mercedes garage to acknowledge the whole team.

"I congratulated him, I think he drove superbly all year and was the better one of us two," Vettel said.

"So I told him well deserved and to enjoy it – number five is something incredible. Mainly congratulated him and asked him to keep pushing for next year, I need him at his best to fight him again."

Hamilton's memory was fuzzy, but he recalled some of Vettel's words, saying: "He came over and, the one thing he said was, 'just don't let off – I need you fighting with me next year' – which I respect, naturally.

"I just said, thank you so much for being such a strong competitor this year.

"It happens so fast so I don't remember everything we said but ultimately it was a true showing of great sportsmanship and respect between us, as I think has been there all year long.

"I think that's great to have in multiple world champions, two competitors who've gone head-to-head. It's been a hard year. He's fought so well this year and I know he drove fantastically well today and I know he'd going to go from strength to strength so I I've got to stay on my toes and make sure I keep trying to come back in the future."

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