Sebastian Vettel insists he saw nothing vicious about Lewis Hamilton's "joke" that he wanted to "wipe the smile" off his face after qualifying in Australia.

The two men had a brief back-and-forth in the press conference with the Ferrari driver shocked by how much performance the world champion found on his final lap to take pole by two-thirds of a second.

That initiated the pokey response from Hamilton but Vettel is sure there was nothing disrespectful meant by it.

"He said he was joking and I believe him," he was quoted by PlanetF1. "I think we are old enough, I don't think we need to go on that sort of level."

Come race day, of course, the German got his revenge by beating the Mercedes driver to the win thanks to a mid-race Virtual Safety Car but most are intrigued to see how the relationship between the two four-time champions evolves this season.

"It's fine as long as we joke with each other and I think even if we are very different persons, I think we share – all of us – a common passion and that makes us quite equal again," Vettel added.

"We love racing and we try to do our best, once we're in the car and beat all the others. I think in that regard, I don't see why we shouldn't get on with each other."