Sebastian Vettel revealed in a recent interview how he nearly became Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes when Nico Rosberg retired days after winning the 2016 Formula 1 title.
Rosberg clinched his one and only title at the 2016 season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, ending a two-title streak by Hamilton and with it destroying a teenage karting friendship in the process.
When Nico decided he could not do it again against Lewis, he quit a few days after his greatest night, leaving Mercedes with some choices, Vettel one of them apparently.
The four-time F1 World Champion, now in retirement, speaking to Sports Illustrated, recalled the chance after a meeting with Niki Lauda at the time: “Maybe there was [a chance], I spoke with Niki. But to be honest, it was halfway through the Ferrari period.
“Obviously it would have been a big deal, because Lewis was their number one, and I’m not sure whether they would have liked to have us both on the team. But I also didn’t have a great interest at that time, because I was so committed to Ferrari.
“That was my dream to make that thing work so you talk to each other but it wasn’t really serious. I think it would have been a great challenge and I think I would have enjoyed that but it just wasn’t meant to be.
“My focus was to win with Ferrari. I didn’t want to change team and win with Mercedes, but it just didn’t happen. I am cool with that.”
Vettel and Hamilton had their moments, as the German was more often not best of the rest chasing the all-conquering Silver Arrows during the first hybrid-turbo era which Merc so dominated.
The pair almost collided out of the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, during an incident-packed safety car period, which Vettel recalled: “I think I would have enjoyed racing with Lewis, we get along really well, and our moment was [in Baku], where we had maybe what you would call nowadays a: misunderstanding!
“I was very upset. It was one of these moments where things didn’t go my way. And I was upset, and maybe the emotional side did take over too much. But I think actually, that moment was a key moment because it could have made us step away from each other more, or bring us together. And it brought us together.
“I reflect and I did think about what happened. And as much as I might have felt in the moment that it is not fair, [what I did is] not right.
“I wanted to show him, I wanted to tell him, but obviously we’re wearing helmets, and it’s hard to communicate. So that was a form of communication. But I also did see that it was the wrong form, and it was not the right way.”
Baku incident made Seb and Lewis closer
“It wasn’t sportsmanlike and not fair, which I admitted afterwards, and we talked to each other and I think since that moment, we got closer to each other,” revealed Vettel.
Of course, Vettel stuck with Ferrari and never won another F1 world title as Hamilton went on to win a further four titles; Mercedes opted for Valtteri Bottas to replace Rosberg for 2017.
Meanwhile, Vettel’s career at Ferrari nosedived when Charles Leclerc emerged as the Italian team’s blue-eyed boy, Aston Martin provided a lifeline, albeit packed with more pain for Seb, and no surprise when he decided, after his 299th and final Grand Prix start, there will be no more suffering.
He leaves F1 at 35 years of age, a four-time F1 world champion, with 53 Grand Prix victories putting him third on the all-time F1 winners’ list, only his nemesis Hamilton (103 wins) and mentor Michael Schumacher (91 wins) have won more times than Vettel.