Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the growing rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel could become one of the greatest Formula One has ever seen.
Hamilton's victory at the Russian Grand Prix moved him level with Vettel's 42 career victories, putting them joint third on the all-time list behind Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91). Though Hamilton has been largely unchallenged this season it is looking increasingly likely Vettel and Ferrari could be in a position to mount a championship challenge in 2016.
In Russia, Hamilton said he is "dying" to one day race Vettel like Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna used to in the early 1990s. His chief rival for the past two seasons has been Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, but Toto Wolff thinks F1 and Hamilton will benefit from a challenge from Ferrari.
"They are both in very performing cars and it could be one of the great rivalries in the sport - in different teams," Wolff said about a future Hamilton/Vettel confrontation. "Lewis has his own rivalry within the team so that is good."
Though Hamilton was still mathematically in the running at the four-way finale in 2010, he and Vettel have yet to have a straight fight for a world championship despite being the two prominent drivers of the modern era. Since 2008, Jenson Button is the only man other than Hamilton or Vettel to have won a world championship.
A straight fight between the pair in 2016 will depend on the progress Ferrari can make over the winter and Wolff has no doubts Ferrari will be in a position to mount a challenge next season.
"We expect them to be very strong next year. They showed great performance earlier than expected and again, towards the end of the race [in Sochi], you can see Sebastian had good pace in his car and his tyres. This is a good group of people with a very good car, and we are looking forward to a great fight next year."