F1 News: Sebastian Vettel Talks Mercedes Relationship – “It Would Have Been Fun to Race with Lewis” – F1 Briefings

The greatness of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton can’t be understated as he hangs at the top for most career podiums. The records will surely continue to pile on behind the dominance of Mercedes through the years and the one who got to see it all unfold what Sebastian Vettel.

Before ultimately making his name with Ferrari, once upon a time there was talk of Vettel was considering going to Mercedes to join Hamilton. Since 2015, both Hamilton and Vettel have combined for 175 podiums (via StatsF1).

If they were to have meshed together, they would have been an unstoppable force for the later half of the decade. Instead, Vettel chose his close ties with Ferrari but gave a glimpse of the thought process during that time (via TheJudge13).

“I talked to Niki [Lauda] about whether I wanted to come. That must have been around half-time of the Ferrari time,” recalled Vettel, who had switched to Ferrari in 2015. “Would have been a huge thing, of course, because Lewis [Hamilton] was their number one.”

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Of course this is all “what ifs” and Vettel showed little interest in the time of switching from Ferrari. Hindsight always provides new perspective with the legacies the two have had over the past seven seasons.

Instead, Hamilton and Vettel became legends of the sports with Mercedes and Ferrari consistently batting for podiums. Mercedes held the edge for dominance since 2015 but to be considered in the same breath as the best team in the 2010s is a great accomplishment in its own right.

A right not able to be accomplished without Vettel.