Even though Vettel became the youngest world champion in history when he took the F1 honors last year, Hamilton believes his most fierce rival in the series remains Fernando Alonso, whom he compared to the legendary quadruple winner of Formula 1, Alain Prost.
“I see him (Alonso) as my Prost,” Hamilton, whose role model in F1 racing is Prost's long-time rival Ayrton Senna, told British reporters at Albert Park. “(...) If you were to say 'choose a driver' I would clearly choose Ayrton (Senna). And maybe I would put him as Prost.”
The duo is best known for their feud during Alonso's days at McLaren, when the Spaniard came to Woking as a two-time world champion and was challenged for the leading role in that team by a rookie Hamilton. The British driver eventually finished the season ahead of Alonso in the standings, although level on points. The Spaniard left McLaren at the end of his first campaign with the team.
Moving on to Vettel, Hamilton doesn't think the 23-year old would be a very tough contender shall the two benefit from the same package race in an out. In fact, when asked if Vettel could be considered a modern-day Mansell, Hamilton stopped short from rating the German as such.
“If he continues to have a car like he does now then, maybe, but I think when we get equal pace then we will see some serious racing,” argued the British driver. “Maybe he (Vettel) is the new Mansell? Not that I would rate him like I do Mansell.”
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