According to a recent poll, 53 per cent of Formula 1 fans believe that Sebastian Vettel is a better driver than Lewis Hamilton.
The poll, conducted by Formula1News, asked fans to judge who was the best driver of the current generation, with the German coming out on top.
Hamilton was second with 31 per cent of the vote, whilst Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen received seven and five per cent respectively.
Vettel is a four-time world champion, having won consecutive Drivers’ Championships between 2010 and 2013 whilst driving for Red Bull. In the final of those seasons, he won nine consecutive Grands Prix.
After a difficult season in 2014, where he failed to win a race over a full season for the first time in his F1 career, the German joined Ferrari for 2015.
His first campaign with the Scuderia saw him finish in third position in the standings behind the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, but he was Hamilton’s main challenger during the majority of 2017, in which he won five races.
The first half of 2018 was again promising, with Vettel leading the Brit by eight points going into the 11th race of the season at Hockenheim, but Hamilton took the lead in the championship with victory in Germany and did not relinquish it for the remainder of the season.
Ferrari announced at the beginning of 2020 that Vettel would be leaving the team at the end of the current campaign, with the 33-year-old set to join Aston Martin for 2021.
This season has been difficult at times for the German in an uncompetitive car, although he did secure a deserved podium in Turkey last weekend when he overtook teammate Charles Leclerc at the final corner.
Hamilton, meanwhile, is perhaps surprisingly not on top of this poll, despite having secured a record-equalling seventh world title at Istanbul Park.
The 35-year-old holds the record for most pole positions and race wins in Formula 1, and also has the most points finishes of any driver.
He won his first Drivers’ Championship with McLaren in 2008, passing Timo Glock at the final corner of the last lap in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, before moving to current team Mercedes for 2013.
Hamilton has dominated the sport in recent years, winning six out of the last seven titles, and could break the record by winning his eighth title should he choose to stay in F1 beyond 2020.
Any new Mercedes deal would mean that the four highest-rated drivers in the poll would be reunited in F1, with Alonso and Raikkonen committed to racing for Alpine and Alfa Romeo respectively for 2021.
Alonso is a two-time world champion, having secured consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, whilst Raikkonen won the 2007 title with Ferrari.