Lewis Hamilton: I want to race Vettel like Senna and Mansell battle

With Ferrari having closed the gap to Mercedes this season and Vettel winning on three occasions, the four-time world champion is often Hamilton's biggest threat other than team-mate Nico Rosberg. However, rarely have the two teams been closely matched and Hamilton says he wants to race Vettel closely next season.

“I’m looking forward to that,” Hamilton told Sky Italia. “There have been races we have had this year where there has been such distance between us, I’m dying to.

“I saw a photo the other day where Nigel and Ayrton were wheel to wheel down the straight with sparks coming out. I picture that, I can’t wait for that to be me and Sebastian.

“Imagine if we had a race like Bahrain that me and Nico [Rosberg] had last year, where we’re back and forth, back and forth. That would be the most exciting thing ever. But where that will happen, we’ll have to wait and see.”

However, Hamilton will have to wait to find out if Ferrari can challenge Mercedes in Russia after limited running in FP1 was followed by a wet afternoon session.

"You sit and wait. You watch and hope that the track is going to get better. I have to say today we learnt more than we did last weekend because we went out and tested the wing and got some information on a single lap. So we did get some information, but in terms of myself there is not much to learn from today."