Former Scuderia Ferrari F1 World Drivers’ Champion and current non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Niki Lauda has recently hailed the Ferrari versus Mercedes battle for the two 2017 Formula 1 world championships. After the first five rounds of the season, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel each managed to win two races and are currently separated in the standings by only six points, ahead of the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix. That most exciting duel between the two F1 champions took place at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, a moment which Niki Lauda says he has enjoyed watching:

“It was racing at the highest level and it does not get any better than this. Pure fascination. A four time world champion and a three-time world champion fighting for Ferrari and Mercedes in the two best cars in the world. There is no better advertising for the sport.” – the Austrian former Formula One driver explained, as reported yesterday by the Swiss newspaper Blick. And Niki Lauda then added that he is sure the close battle will continue during the 2017 F1 season:

“Of course, the rest cannot keep up. It’s as simple as that. Raikkonen and Bottas will probably play a decisive role for Ferrari or Mercedes winning the constructors’ world championship. I would say Bottas is now as good as Rosberg was. And maybe a bit better than Raikkonen.” – Niki Lauda concluded, in the hope that Scuderia Ferrari’s Finnish driver will prove the Mercedes team chairman wrong and help the Maranello side achieve the maing target for this season, a win in the Formula 1 Constructor Standings, where Scuderia Ferrari are currently second, just eight points behind Mercedes, ahead of the race in Monte Carlo, which is scheduled to take place next Sunday on the Circuit de Monaco.