Vettel relishes driving against the very best

Sebastian Vettel has admitted that he enjoyed the 2017 Formula One season even though he lost out on the championship title to Lewis Hamilton as he relishes the opportunity to drive against some of the best in the world as it elevates his own performance.

The Ferrari driver enjoyed a positive start to the campaign and notched up a few P1 victories, but a poor performance over the Asian leg of the GP tour allowed Hamilton to swoop in and keep the top spot to eventually win the title.

There does seem to be professional respect between the duo, though. When questioned at the FIA Hall of Fame launch whether he enjoyed the battle with Hamilton, Vettel said he relishes being tested against top drivers.

“Yes, definitely. There is no doubt about his skill and his speed. He’s very quick and he doesn’t do many mistakes.”

“Jacques [Villeneuve] said [Michael] Schumacher was the best driver and also the hardest one to fight against. It’s exactly that if you fight against the best it elevates you to the next level.

At some points during the campaign, Vettel admits to having had "road rage" due to some controversial incidents on the track, but is hoping to learn from his past behaviour.

“A lot of the things that I did back then, they were right, but thinking about it today maybe it could have been a bit different or [I could have been] a bit wiser, I hope so, to allow me to be better,” he said.