MONTE CARLO, Monaco -- Lewis Hamilton does not want his title battle with Sebastian Vettel to descend into mind games this season and instead wants to compete against the Ferrari driver while he is performing at his best.
After three years of an inter-team battle with Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, Hamilton now faces a challenge from a resurgent Vettel at Ferrari. His battles with Rosberg invariably featured psychological games as the two vied for supremacy within the same team, but while Hamilton appreciates the importance of the mental side of the sport he does not want his battle with Vettel to become nasty.
"The psychological side is something I take a lot of pride in -- the fact I am very strong mentally," he said. "I think that's something you can admire when battling someone else like Sebastian or Fernando [Alonso]. It will be interesting to see, but he seems solid.
"I for one want him to be his best when he gets in the car, so I don't have any intention of playing psychological wars outside the car. I want to beat him in the car because when he's at his best and I beat him that says what it needs to say rather than having him on the back foot.
"But it's definitely going to be part of it this year for both of us as it's such a long year, just like it is in golf over 18 holes with whoever is the most consistent generally ends up winning. I am excited about that, it's an all-round battle both physically, mentally, technically and I think that's why it's a great battle."
Although they have taken seven of the last nine titles between them, Hamilton and Vettel have never gone head-to-head for a championship. Both have experienced success while driving for dominant teams and Hamilton says this year's battle has not changed his opinion of his rival.
"For me it hasn't changed as I had a respect for him anyway," he added. "I know what it's like having a good car, you still have to do the job. It's just other people are easy to blame certain things or look at negatives, make excuses. Being that I am in the sport and drive, I know what it takes.
"Of course, when we were racing and he was in the Red Bull car, I wish my car was a little bit quicker so I could have given him a battle like I have this year because maybe it would not have been so easy for him. But you could say the same thing for the last few years [with Mercedes]. It does not deter from the fact he is an exceptional driver and he continues to show that year upon year and what he does in that Ferrari is fantastic."