Nico Rosberg has praised Sebastian Vettel for his hard work and devotion to his driving career, making out he has the right attitude, something that former teammate Lewis Hamilton lacks.

Rosberg and Hamilton were teammates at Mercedes from 2013-2016 topping the Constructors' Championship in three of the four seasons they raced together.

Hamilton has won every Drivers' Championship since the introduction of hybrid engines to Formula 1, except in 2016, when it was in fact Rosberg who beat him to the title.

It was public that during their time together at Mercedes, the German and the Brit had a real tension between them.

Rosberg and Hamilton both becoming frustrated with each other and their team with one of them  given priority to win races, with Hamilton famously not allowing Rosberg to pass on numerous occasions.

The debate continued throughout their tenure racing as teammates, with the two of them colliding at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016, leaving them both unable to finish the race.

This has led to the retired Rosberg letting his feelings known on how Hamilton worked with his team.

The German told Autosprint, via PlanetF1: "Vettel is superior in terms of dedication to work; he works closely with the engineers.

“It is a devotion that Hamilton does not have.

“I do not know exactly what happened to him, but this is sport, sometimes it seems everything is going in the right direction, then you just need one mistake to bring you down, you lose confidence and everything goes wrong.

“The same thing happened to me against Hamilton in 2015. With Lewis, I needed to change my attitude, I decided that I had to be the one to lead the game.

Rosberg has also warned Vettel of new teammate Charles Leclerc, stating there will no longer be a "comfort zone".

“Lewis always tends to impose his rules, but I took control so as not to allow him to find the motivation. And I won.

“Vettel will have to beware because Leclerc is very strong and he will no longer have the comfort zone of Raikkonen.

“Now it will be different, Seb will have to be perfect if he wants to win.”

Vettel, now racing for Ferrari, drove Hamilton closest in 2018, finishing second, but hasn't claimed the Drivers' Championship title since 2013, when he won his last of four consecutive titles with Red Bull.