Windsor: 'I never would have put Vettel in the same class as Hamilton'

Sebastian Vettel is now retired, but that does not mean the four-time world champion is no longer compared to his former rivals. Peter Windsor believes Vettel was never of the same class as Lewis Hamilton in terms of talent because the German never managed to improve his driving style.

Formula 1's youngest world champion has retired at the end of 2022 after a long career. Vettel won his four world titles between 2010 and 2013 at Red Bull Racing. In 2015, he moved to Ferrari, but after six seasons he called it a day there. The German failed to win a world title with the iconic Italian team.

In his last two seasons in the sport, Vettel had to make do with just one podium finish at Aston Martin. Windsor, former team manager of Williams and Ferrari, believes Vettel's driving style was limited. In his final season at Red Bull, the four-time world champion was beaten by teammate Daniel Ricciardo, but according to Windsor, Vettel never addressed his shortcomings in 2014.

'Vettel never got better'

"[There were] all sorts of things he could have done but he didn’t do any of that. He just signed off and went to Ferrari and arrived as the four-time World Champion who was greeted with a lot of money and a lot of fan adulation. And he never got any better, he was still the same driver. That’s the Sebastian Vettel story", Windsor says during a Twitch stream.

The F1 analyst thinks the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix left a stain on Vettel's reputation. The German then drove into the side of Hamilton's Mercedes after Vettel accused his rival of brake checking him.

"He got away with that with a very, very small fine whereas Dan Ticktum lost his licence for a year for doing virtually the same thing. So that was disproportionate. He was very lucky, I think, to get away with that. I never would have put him in the same class as Lewis", Windsor ends.