Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton looking forward to close title fight

Recent seasons have been dominated by Mercedes with no other teams coming close. But on Sunday, Vettel demonstrated that Ferrari is a real threat this year by clinching victory in Melbourne.

Now both drivers say that they hope that continues into the rest of the season.

"For sure I would love to have a close battle," said Vettel. "Obviously right now it looks like we have equal machinery. I hope it stays that way and then we will see how it turns out.

"It’s obviously a lot of fun to race for victories and a lot of fun to race against the best.

"I have great respect [for Lewis]. He’s proven to be one of the quickest drivers on the grid.

"I think he had an amazing debut here ten years ago. I still remember his move around the outside, when he made other people look a bit silly."

Hamilton agreed with Vettel's view that it looked like it was going to be a hard-fought campaign this season.

"Incredible amount of respect for Sebastian and what he’s achieved in his career," Hamilton said.

"It’s been a privilege to be racing in an era with him. And now finally at a period of time when we can actually have a real race.

"The fact that we are similar pace-wise [means] it’s going to be a very, very hard slog this season.

"It’s going to be physically and mentally demanding. But as Sebastian said, racing the best is what Formula 1 is all about. Ultimately it makes you work that much harder, having to raise the bar.

"I’m looking forward to that."