sebastian vettel in the paddock on media day, japan - september 24, 2015 📷 sho tamura / alamy

lewis hamilton, p1, and sebastian vettel, p3, celebrate on the podium, japan - september 27, 2015 📷 steven tee / motorsport images

The Duke of Cambridge visited Smile Kid's Park in Koriyama with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tsutaya book store as part of the Great Britain International Marketing Campaign, NHK Public Broadcasting Studios and attended a dinner at a hot spring inn in Koriyama during the third day of his visit to Japan. (📷Getty Images)

Nagoya

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Japan.

Lewis Hamilton says he is "dying to" race wheel-to-wheel with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel like Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna used to in the early 1990s. Ferrari has closed the gap to Mercedes this year, with Vettel taking three wins, but the season has still largely been dominated by Hamilton and Mercedes. Hamilton is 48 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in this year's championship with five races left but he says it is Vettel he wants to go head-to-head with in 2016. "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." At the Japanese Grand Prix Hamilton moved level with Senna's tally of 41 career victories, a feat accomplished by Vettel when he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in July. Vettel has since won again in Singapore, putting him ahead of Hamilton on the current all-time list. Only Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91) have won more than the Ferrari driver. The pair share six world championships between them but have never been involved in a straight fight for the title. Hamilton wants that to change in 2016. "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.” When asked about Hamilton's comments, Vettel welcomed the world champion's desire for close racing but said Ferrari still has to wait before it can compete with Mercedes regularly. "To be really close he obviously has a bit of margin at the moment," Vettel said. "I think we are trying very hard and hopefully in the future we can be a lot closer. That's the target. I wouldn't mind, I think he's one of the best drivers out there so it would be good to fight with him." ✒ nate saunders, espn / 📷 mark sutton, motorsport images

The Duke of Cambridge, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Smile Kid's Park in Koriyama, Japan. (📷Getty Images)