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Sebastian Vettel recounts the time he thought of joining Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel motorsports

Sebastian Vettel got a slight chance to join Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton however, the German chose to stay with Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have shared their moments on the grid. The duo shared a rather intense rivalry in the 2010s. Most of the time Lewis Hamilton came on top due to the upper hand of the Mercedes’ power unit.

Regardless, the careers of the two could have turned out entirely different. Vettel left Red bull for Ferrari in 2015. The German was constantly involved in battles with his main rival Hamilton and was a constant threat to Mercedes.

However, after Nico Rosberg retired in 2016, things could have changed. Sebastian Vettel has now revealed that he had a chance to become a teammate to Lewis Hamilton although the chance was extremely small:

“Maybe there was [a chance], I spoke with Niki [Lauda],”

Vettel said.

“Obviously it would have been a big deal, because Lewis was their number one, and I’m not sure whether they would have liked to have us both in the team.”

“But I also didn’t have great interest at that time, because I was so committed to Ferrari.”

For Vettel, the Ferrari dream was much more important

Although Vettel was struggling with Ferrari – not able to fulfill his or the Scuderia’s dream of a championship, he was never in favor to leave the side for a championship-winning car. The German revealed that he was determined to win the championship with the prancing horse:

“That was my dream to make that thing work so you talk to each other but it wasn’t really serious,”

explained the German.

“My focus was to win with Ferrari. I didn’t want to change teams and win with Mercedes, but it just didn’t happen. I am cool with that.”

Now, Sebastian Vettel has retired from F1. Hamilton, however, seems ready to extend his contract with his team for a few more years.

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