“It’s been a real honour” Hamilton on racing Vettel in 2018

Lewis Hamilton has said that it was “a real honour” to go up against Sebastian Vettel for the 2018 F1 Drivers Championship.

After tussling with Vettel at the top of the standings for the first half of the season, Hamilton won his eleventh victory of the year at the Abu Dhabi GP ahead of Vettel, having sealed the championship two races beforehand in Mexico.

“It’s been a real honour and a privilege racing against Sebastian,” Hamilton said (crash.net)

One of the key turning points of the season was in the German Grand Prix in July where the German crashed out of the lead with not long to go, giving Hamilton the victory and lead of the championship from fourteenth on the grid.

“He did a fantastic job this whole season. There’s so much pressure on us all, so don’t ever look at our shortcomings as anything less than us giving our best and Sebastian did.”

“I know next year he’s going to come back strong, so I’ve got to make sure I come back with him, but I’m really grateful for the time.”

Ferrari driver Vettel said “He’s the champion and he deserves to be the champion,”

“It’s been a tough year. I tried everything until the last lap and I really enjoyed it.”

“Catching a little bit, a little bit, but I think he controlled the pace at the front. I would have liked it to be a little more wheel-to-wheel but yeah, a long year, a lot of races.”

After the race the rivals on the track swapped helmets to show their respect for one another, as drivers have done at the end of a season for a while now. Will they be going head to head again next year?