Vettel: "I would be happy if Max won the world title this year"

Max Verstappen seemed to be on his way to an early securing of the title a few weeks ago, but after two disastrous weekends, the roles have completely reversed. The Dutchman is suddenly facing a gap to Lewis Hamilton. The bad luck for Verstappen during these two races was caused by a Mercedes driver. Hamilton's lead is still small, so anything can happen.

Sebastian Vettel does have a preference in any case when he is asked by Bild.de when asked who he wants to be champion. The Heppenheimer himself competed with Hamilton for a couple of seasons on behalf of Ferrari, but could never pull off the overall victory. "I would be happy if Max won the world title this year," he said.

However, the reason for his choice of Verstappen has its reasons: "That would mean that Michael Schumacher would keep his record of seven titles. Michael is my hero, as everyone knows, and therefore I would be happy if Max became it."

However, Vettel does not want to take anything away from Hamilton's achievements should he become champion again: "It is clear to me that if Lewis manages to win his eighth title, he deserves our full respect." When asked to make a choice anyway, humour resurfaces for the German: "I don't want to commit to that. What I do know is that this year I won't..."