F1: Vettel could have been Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel has revealed he spoke with Niki Lauda about joining Mercedes but ultimately decided to stay with Ferrari.

“I spoke with Niki halfway through the Ferrari period about joining,” he revealed on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

“It would have been a big deal because Lewis was sort of their number one and then 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. That was my dream to make that thing work. So you talk to each other but it wasn’t really serious.”

“I think it would have been a great challenge,” Vettel said of being Hamilton’s team-mate. “And I think I would have enjoyed that but it just wasn’t meant to be.

“Like I said, my focus was to win with Ferrari and that was my target. I didn’t want to change team and win with Mercedes, if you see what I mean.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP and Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Ferrari in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 22, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

“Other than just winning, which I really love, it was winning with Ferrari. That was a great goal.

“It just didn’t happen so that’s fine, but I think I would have enjoyed racing with Lewis, we get along really well.

“I think our moment was the 2017 Baku Grand Prix, where we had, maybe you can call it nowadays, a misunderstanding.

“It was one of those moments where things didn’t go my way, and I was upset and maybe the emotional side did take too much over. But I think actually, that moment was a key moment because it could have made us step away from each other more, or bring us together, and it brought us together.

“So I reflect, and I did think about what happened and as much as I might have felt in the moment that is not fair, that’s not right, and I wanted to show him, I wanted to tell him that, obviously, we’re wearing helmets, and it’s hard to communicate. So that was a form of communication.

“But I also did see that it was the wrong form. It was not the right way, it wasn’t sportsman like and not fair, which I admitted afterwards. We talked to each other and I think since that moment we got closer to each other.”