Vettel wants 'ultimate satisfaction' of beating Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel is seeking the "ultimate satisfaction" of beating Lewis Hamilton to a fifth world drivers' title in 2018, with the four-time champions drawing the battle lines as they begin the search for rare Formula 1 success at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton's domination of the hybrid era has helped him move level with Vettel on four crowns - the German having previously ruled with Red Bull.

Curiously, the pair had not been pitched in outright competition until last season, as Ferrari managed to close the gap to Mercedes to provide an enthralling title race between two modern-day legends.

Vettel appeared to hold the upper hand until a first-lap crash in Singapore began to turn the tide back Hamilton's way and the German says taking on the Mercedes star has always provided him with a source of great motivation.

He told a pre-race press conference: "When you get in [F1] it's all about winning. You want to win, you don't look at anything else. Probably later on, after you've won a little bit, you get a bit more perspective and open your horizons as well and then I think it becomes something special to win against the best.

"You care more about who you race against and what it means to you, it gives you more satisfaction.

"And now, obviously, I'm searching for the ultimate satisfaction to win with Ferrari which is the greatest team in history, and that's my ultimate target now, to win with Ferrari and win against the best which arguably... I'm sure there's plenty of numbers that you're all aware of, arguably, and Lewis is one of them."

Only Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Michael Schumacher (7) can list more titles than Vettel and Hamilton, but the great Argentine could have company by the end of the year.

Vettel continued: "Ideally, it's less than 12 months away – but it's a long way. I think we all know how many things need to come together to be able to fight for the championship towards the end of the season. And then to win it.

"Also, nowadays the times are different. I think it's very different times to when Fangio achieved it, compared to today. So, every era has its own challenges, certainly they were a bit different back then."

Hamilton also talked up the modern-day competition between himself and Vettel, while saving what appeared to be a thinly veiled jab for former colleague Nico Rosberg - Hamilton having previously discussed Rosberg's accusations that he is an "inconsistent" driver earlier in the briefing.

The champion said: "It's a privilege to be racing for the teams that we're racing for and for me and Mercedes, with the heritage that they have, to be a part of the sport that's progressing and changing with the times and to be at the forefront of it, competing against the best drivers that you can compete against.

"When you come to the end of your career, you want to know that you competed against the best.

"There are those that bow out early, there are those that have won championships maybe that have not been as competitive and the ultimate goal is to be... to be the best, I think you have to go up against the best.

"It's been a great experience to be able to race against Sebastian, he's got the four world titles, the most of any other driver at the time and I think this is an exciting year for Formula 1 fans, being that we have two four-time world champions battling it out."