Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen Engage in Banter about Ratings

We have now reached the halfway stage of the 2019 Formula One World Championship. After the conclusion of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the summer break is underway as the teams and drivers recharge their batteries. However, the podium finishers, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel decided to get some laughs in the last press conference before the break.

Dániel Májer from Hirek.hu asked the trio to rate their own performance at the halfway stage of the season. He also asked them to explain briefly why would give themselves that mark.

Sebastian Vettel stepped up to the plate first and said, “Five, not happy with the first half. I think I struggled here and there to really get on top of the car. I think we’ve been trying a lot of things so fair enough. Obviously we wanted to squeeze out more so you’re always looking for more but I feel I can do a better job in the second half. And five is my number, so take five.”

Next up was Lewis Hamilton, who said, “So that’s the first half of the season, yeah? I’d say like 8.9, 8.8.”

Then the banter began with Sebastian Vettel telling his rival, “Go ten, man. Go for it, who cares?”

Unperturbed, Lewis Hamilton replied, “If it wasn’t for the last one, the last race, it would be a little bit higher. I think the good thing is always to score yourself a little bit lower so you’ve more to work on. For sure, it’s been the best start of the season that I think we’ve ever had as a team and I think it’s one of the best seasons that I’ve had personally to start off, but there are areas that we can continue to work on. That’s the great thing about this sport, you know, no matter how many years and days you race there are always areas you can improve on. So let’s see if we can try and up that into the nines or try to get to the tens in the second half of the season.”

However, Max Verstappen firmly stated that he didn’t rate himself in numbers. So, Sebastian Vettel asked if he used letters instead.

Verstappen replied with an absolute gem, he said, “No, I hate putting a number on it because it reminds me of school as well, which is not that long ago. I’m always quite critical and I think it always can be better. I’ll never be satisfied. I think it’s been very positive and I’ve had good results but there are always things to work on.”