Hamilton: Seb won’t do a Schu

Editor

Lewis Hamilton says Sebastian Vettel will not dominate the world of F1 in the same way that Michael Schumacher did in the early 2000s…

Lewis Hamilton says Sebastian Vettel will not dominate the world of F1 in the same way that Michael Schumacher did in the early 2000s.

Schumacher had a run of five consecutive Drivers’ Championship titles from 2000 to 2004. During that period the German amassed 48 race victories, 13 of which he secured in 2004 alone.

And given Vettel’s impressive run this season, which has seen the defending World Champ take six wins from eight races, there are some concerns that this is just the start of a Schumacher-esque era for the Red Bull.

However, Hamilton insists it is not, saying there are too many other teams that will sooner rather than later take the fight to Vettel and Red Bull.

“I don’t think it will happen. I think it’s a different time, rules are changing all the time,” said the Mclaren driver.

“Red Bull have clearly established they’re a strong team, but you have lots of other strong teams such as Renault who look like they are getting stronger this year.

“Then you’ve Mercedes who are there or thereabouts. You’ve even got Williams. Look at the changes they’re going to have over the next couple of years.

“You never know if they’re going to be back up there with us, which I think would be great for the sport.

“But I don’t think it is the same situation. There was a lot more to it in the Schumacher days.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button says Red Bull can be beaten as McLaren have proven twice already this season.

“It’s difficult to compare,” said the 2009 F1 World Champ.

“They’re extremely quick and they have the reliability. Last year they were quick, but they didn’t have the reliability, so obviously they’ve taken a step forward.

“They’re very strong in many areas so it’s tough to beat them, but we’ve beaten them twice. It’s not as much as we’d like to beat them, but they are beatable.

“Michael won 13 races or something at the start of one year, so we are just going to have to hope that doesn’t happen.

“We are close to them. It’s not like they have a massive, massive advantage, like one and a half or two seconds or something.”