Having spent over 16 years in F1, Lewis Hamilton has won a record 7 world championships and 103 Grands Prix. Throughout his tenure, the British driver engaged in fierce rivalries with Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, and Max Verstappen. However, none of these rivalries were as enjoyable for the 39-year-old as the rivalry he shared with Sebastian Vettel. Speaking in an interview with Wall Street Italia, Hamilton revealed how his greatest rivalry in F1 was with the former Ferrari and Red Bull driver.

“Sebastian Vettel- I’ve always liked racing against him. Every race has always been a gritty challenge”, stated Hamilton

In 2017 and 2018, the two drivers locked horns for the championship with each other while Vettel drove for Ferrari and Hamilton led the charge for Mercedes. Vettel took the lead at the halfway stage in both years, but Hamilton turned the tables in the second half and stole the title from under the German’s nose.

Hamilton took note of Vettel‘s prowess and praised the four-time world champion’s driving skills while also complimenting his personality. “I was racing against an incredible driver. Not only that, but a great man in Seb [Vettel], who is a four-time world champion.”, he said.

Eventually, the rivalry turned into mutual admiration, and the two now share a good friendship, with them often exchanging empowering messages with each other.

Lewis Hamilton has had some tough competition

Fernando Alonso

Hamilton’s earliest rivalry in F1 came in the same year he made his debut, and it came in the form of a two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso. Recalling the same, Hamilton once claimed Alonso was the most talented driver he ever come across and that he was lucky to face intense competition from an experienced driver in his early days in F1. While there was once bad blood between the two, both drivers have now taken a more amicable approach towards each other.

Max Verstappen

Hamilton’s youngest and latest rival, Max Verstappen, stands as a controversial figure in the Briton’s life solely because of the AD21 incident. The same has led to an air of tension between the two. It is difficult for Verstappen to be as free around his British counterpart as he is in front of others. Even on the smallest of details, fans end up taking sides instead of the two drivers just letting go of it.

Nico Rosberg

Perhaps the epitome of an all-out rivalry in Hamilton’s career came when he clashed with Nico Rosberg at Mercedes. The 2016 world champion would later label the feud as “too extreme,” but it was too little too late. The intra-team rivalry became so intense that Mercedes had to lay down specific laws to ensure things did not blow out of proportion on the tracks.

“It went to the point that we had a code of conduct, a paper, what we were allowed to do in a wheel-to-wheel battle, even penalties with a lot of zeros on them attached to that because there was no other way”, Rosberg said.