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Vettel enjoys 'fun' Hamilton battle

Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton ran close together on track before Hamilton conceded position © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel admitted his battle with Lewis Hamilton was "good fun" after having to pass the McLaren on track during a long run on Wednesday.

Both Red Bull and McLaren carried out race simulations during the afternoon session, and at one point Vettel came across Hamilton on a different stage of the run. After following the McLaren for a few laps Vettel eventually found a way past, but he admitted that the pair had raced "a little bit" and that it livened up what can be a less exciting day.

"Yeah it's fun," Vettel said. "Obviously in testing you don't want to stand in each other's way but it's good every now and then to see another car and race a little bit. I think we were on different fuel loads at the time so you can't really compare but still it's good fun to follow someone and then get past and so on, and I think it's the same the other way round so makes testing a bit more interesting at some stages."

Vettel also admitted that he thought McLaren seemed to be on the pace during testing so far, highlighting the team's consistency as helping judge how competitive it will be.

"I think [McLaren] seem to be competitive. They do a lot of laps, they are very consistent. Judging the speed for everyone is still difficult but in terms of consistency they do look one of the best. For the others, they don't run that much so I think McLaren is running most at this stage so it's easier to judge, whereas if you look at Ferrari or Mercedes they do run but it's not as clear and the runs are not that long so it's hard to say."

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