Finally, Formula One has a fight worth watching

Dissects the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel which is reigniting the sport ahead of tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel (below) both started their F1 journey to stardom in 2007. Hamilton, in a front-running McLaren, sensationally came within a point of winning the title in his rookie year, while Vettel was handed his debut by Sauber at the sixth round in the United States and, aged 19, became the youngest driver to score points in the sport’s history as he finished eighth. Vettel then moved to Toro Rosso, and did his best to thwart Hamilton’s maiden championship triumph after he passed the Briton in the final few laps at the concluding race in Brazil. Hamilton, however, fought his way round Timo Glock at the final corner of the final lap to clinch the title in the most nervejangling of circumstances. He joked last month in Australia that he was going to get revenge on Vettel for nearly wrecking his title bid. Vettel and Hamilton have shared six of the last seven championships between them, but this marks the first campaign in which their machinery is evenly matched. The prospect of the two leading lights of their generation going hammer and tong until the season decider at November’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is precisely what F1 needed after the tedium of Mercedes’ recent domination. And both men appear to be revelling in the new dynamic. “This year you are seeing the best against the best,” said Hamilton after he lost out to Vettel in Melbourne. The remark could also be viewed as a subtle barb against Nico Rosberg, whom he fought against for the title in each of the past three seasons. In the same fashion in which the Merseyside derby is heralded the “friendly derby”, Hamilton versus Vettel is swiftly becoming F1’s equivalent. Hamilton and Vettel hold each other – and their seven combined world championships and 97 wins – in high regard. Their relationship is a change in tone to the toxicity of Hamilton’s rivalry with Rosberg, which simmered and then continued to boil over as they slugged it out for the title. The story of a relationship – first formed as teenagers in the same karting team – falling apart on the global stage was fascinating and grubby in equal measure, and did the sport few favours in the long run. So, the mutual respect shown by Hamilton and Vettel will leave Liberty Media, F1’s new owners, fawning over the sport’s latest rivalry. Hamilton, three years Vettel’s senior, is confident the goodnatured feeling will remain intact. “I honestly think it will stay the way it is,” the 32-year-old said. “Maybe there will be times when we are racing, and we are racing hard together, and of course there could be a scenario where one of us thinks something is unfair. But we are grown men, we have come a long way and we have experienced a lot. The respect for one another is the highest I have felt from another driver, especially of his calibre.” Vettel concurred. “I have great respect for Lewis. He’s proven to be one of the quickest drivers on the grid and it is a lot of fun to race against the best.” Mercedes have dominated en route to winning a hat-trick of consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ titles, but in Vettel and a resurgent Ferrari team their stranglehold on the sport is facing its toughest test yet. The early evidence is that the Ferrari suits the warmer climate – which will play into the team’s hands here in Bahrain, where temperatures will reach 97F today – while Mercedes chief Toto Wolff says his team will fight as if they are the underdogs. The smart money, however, has to be on Hamilton, given his team’s record in recent times. Either way it is a fight worth watching, and that could not always have been said of the sport in recent years.