Vettel sees Hamilton's enthusiasm fading: 'Not what you strive for'

Sebastian Vettel wonders if Lewis Hamilton is still enthusiastic about Formula 1 after Mercedes ' disappointing performance this year. The Aston Martin driver is not the first to express doubts about this: Jenson Button also suggested that the Mercedes driver might want to do something else.

Hamilton arrives in Baku 75 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen, after a series of disappointing results due to the problems facing the W13.

'Hamilton can't be excited about eighth place'

Vettel cannot imagine that there is much left of Hamilton's enthusiasm for the sport. "When you get to know the sport in the way I have done, and Lewis has done, winning and being at the top is what you strive for," the German told Independent.

He argues that finishing eighth, 12th or 13th is not particularly exciting when you are used to fighting for victories. The fact that George Russell then comes in and puts down better results doesn't help either, according to Vettel.

Although Russell says he also expected more from his first races at Mercedes, it is still a big leap from his time with Williams. "Everybody is different, but you need to be fair from the outside and say, look, is Lewis naturally going to be as fired up about finishing eighth as George probably is? No, and I would be surprised if he was," Vettel said.