Hamilton on Vettel: He has weak points

Despite the fact that Lewis Hamilton has already claimed this season's Formula One championship, the Mercedes driver could not stop himself from taking a verbal dig at Sebastian Vettel who led the rankings for a long time over the season only to lose out to his rival.

The championship was in the hands of Vettel until the Italian Grand Prix, when Hamilton took the flag, and this was a major turning point as the Englishman and Mercedes would go on to claim first in the Singapore, Japan, and United States Grands Prix.

Speaking to reporters this week, Hamilton insists there were certain 'weak points' in Vettel's performances.

“It’s not great for anyone to lose a world championship when they’ve been in the lead of the championship, I’ve been there before.

“I think this year there have been weak points he’s shown, pressure points you might call them.

“And I’m sure he’s going to try to work on those areas next year, and I’ve got to raise my game to reply to him.”

Despite Hamilton recognising these supposed weak points, he did reserve some praise for the Ferrari driver and called him a 'fantastic driver' whilst insisting that the competition has increased now that the duo are now level on four world championships each, with 2018 set see the battle for that fifth title.

“Having the three titles was amazing but everyone was aware there was another champion who had four,” Hamilton continued.

“I guess it will be kind of neat to be out there knowing we are both on four and now it is a race between the two of us to get the next one.

“We’ve had our battle through the year, I’ve always remained respectful and I see him as a four-time world champion and a fantastic driver and I love the fact I was able to fight just as hard as him and come out on top.”