Sebastian Vettel has dismissed the notion that he has had it easy at Red Bull with the best car and a weak team-mate in Mark Webber.
The German denies such claims, insisting Webber has put up a ‘tough’ fight during their time together and things certainly won’t be easier next season when he has Daniel Ricciardo as a team-mate.
“Next year there will be a lot of new things but I think we should be a strong team,” he said on Thursday in Singapore. “That’s really what matters, but there are always theories that because you raced him or the other guy you will be better or worse.
“I’ve had very tough competition with Mark and I think it’s often been closer than it has looked from the outside. So I don’t think I’ve had it easy and I won’t have it easy in the future,” added the triple-champion.
Vettel stressed that winning hasn’t been easy for him or the team, but admitted he’d look “pretty stupid” if he were to be beaten by soon-to-be team-mate Ricciardo.
“There are some people who are tired of Red Bull winning, but we’re not and we know there is no guarantee we will keep winning,” he added. “We have to work hard to be in the front and finish in a good position on the podium. Even though from the outside you can say we are on the podium all the time and winning races, every race was a new challenge and that’s important that you remember how much hard work it was to get there in the first place.
“Next year I’m sharing the team with Daniel. If he wins the championship then I will look pretty stupid, but equally he then deserves to win. The year after that would mean I’d be racing with a world champion in the team.”
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