Vettel hopes Verstappen will have better car: 'I didn't have that'

Sebastian Vettel is hoping Max Verstappen has a better car at his disposal in the final stages of the title fight with Lewis Hamilton, than was the case for the German himself. Vettel battled Hamilton in 2017 and 2018 but often came up short in the end.

Hamilton and Mercedes are getting real resistance in the battle for the world title for the first time in the hybrid era. In 2017 and 2018, Vettel and Ferrari came close, but ultimately fell short of the team and also the driver over the whole season. Vettel hopes Verstappen will be luckier in that regard.

''I hope that Max has a better car at the end or better position to be in at the very end, because the fights that I was in with Lewis, unfortunately, we were not as competitive to really give him a hard time in the end. So I think it was quite clear and fairly easy for him to win the championship in the end,'' Vettel said according to Motorsport.com.

Vettel has a lot of respect for Hamilton and the fact that he has won so many world titles, but the German also knows that rivalry is better for the sport. ''I think rivalry is good for any sport. But I'm a huge fan of rivalry with respect. And I think we're seeing a very clean fight so far,'' concludes the Aston Martin driver.