Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

Vettel unmoved by Ecclestone jibe

Sebastian Vettel says he is not concerned by Bernie Ecclestone’s comments that Lewis Hamilton has been a better world champion for F1.

Ecclestone praised Hamilton during the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, saying he had promoted the sport well in his role as world champion and criticising Vettel for not doing the same. Ecclestone had described Hamilton as “100% box office”, but the four time world champion was widely praised for his emotion following victory in Malaysia.

Vettel - who subsequently beat Hamilton to win in Malaysia - was asked about the comments in China on Thursday, but insists they don’t bother him.

"He is free to say what he wants,” Vettel said. “It's fine.

"For me, I'm very happy with what I have achieved so far, and I look forward to what might come.”

With Vettel one of the few drivers on the grid not to have a Twitter account, he then joked with Jenson Button about Ecclestone’s similar lack of visibility on social media.

Click here for Chris Medland's Chinese Grand Prix preview.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.