BEYOND THE GRID: Vettel names ‘biggest natural talent’ he’s faced in F1 as he prepares for final race
Sebastian Vettel is about to hit the brakes on his Formula 1 career and, in the latest episode of Beyond The Grid, the four-time F1 champion opens up about his greatest friends and foes in the sport that has been his life for the past 15 years…
He’s the man of the moment as he readies for what is set to be his final race in Formula 1, and the German driver discusses every facet of his career in this unmissable interview with Tom Clarkson.
Vettel has had to contend with the likes of Charles Leclerc, Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo as team mates, but he singles out one driver as being the best when it comes to all out speed.
READ MORE: Vettel names his toughest F1 rival after 15 years of competition
“I think Kimi [Raikkonen] is actually the biggest natural talent I’ve come across, ever,” says Vettel on the podcast.
“Just in terms of raw speed, I think. And it shows in the car, obviously, but it shows also in any other form of car. I think switching – if there was a discipline of switching cars every day – after 10 days he would be lapping everybody else, just because he’s just a natural, it doesn’t take time to adapt to the car, to what the car requires.
“If you give him a steering wheel, he knows what to do with it. Sometimes you feel it’s unfair, you need to get used to it first and get an idea of the track or the conditions, but for him it’s just… boom,” continues Vettel.
The four-time champion adds that he and Raikkonen enjoyed a solid relationship during their time as team mates at Ferrari from 2015 to 2018.
“I think with him, I probably had the best relationship out of all the team mates I had, because he was just so straightforward. There was never an argument. If we crashed into each other we talked about it, fixed what happened, maybe laughed about it…
READ MORE: ‘It was obviously pretty tense’ – Webber looks back on his rivalry with ex-team mate Vettel
“But there was never a question that anything could sort of shake up or destabilse the, I don’t want to say bond, but relationship that we had. He’s been probably also the one when I came in, I remember, he was so respectful from the day I walked in, looking into my eyes. With other drivers I felt, ‘OK I’m shaking hands, I’m saying hello, but actually the guy’s not present, he’s not here’.
“With people, I think Kimi’s been exceptional.”
Listen to this episode of Beyond The Grid to hear from Vettel on his entire F1 career, how he feels about retirement and much more by using the player above or by heading here to catch it on another platform.
