Not Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel Picks Out This Red Bull Legend as the Fastest Driver He Raced Against: “I Don’t Know How You Did It…”

15 years since Sebastian Vettel first raced in F1, now he is bidding adieu to the sport. During his decade and a half on the F1 grid, Vettel raced with many fast drivers that included his racing hero Michael Schumacher. The German recently appeared on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast with Tom Clarkson and reflected on his journey in F1.

When Clarkson asked him about who was the fastest driver Vettel ever raced with, the German responded in his own detailed style. Sebastian said, “That is very difficult to answer. F1 is particular because you only get to really see, what’s happening behind the wheel with your teammate.”

“The other drivers, now we get a lot of information, data, and so on and have some knowledge. But we don’t really know is, how good their car is, how much they might adapt.”

Vettel explained how it’s difficult to judge different drivers on the same scale in terms of their speed and ability. Still, he picked some of his teammates who were pretty fast on their day.

Vettel mentioned, “On the day, in terms of consistency – Mark [Webber] when he got his things right, it was unbelievable to witness. You’d pick a weekend like Nurburgring [2009]. I ran out of things to do. After the race I just said – I don’t know how you [Webber] did it. But hats off he was so quick, so much quicker than me.”

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Mark Webber ran close to Vettel during his time at Red Bull till 2013. Webber challenged Vettel for both the 2010 and 2012 championships, before retiring at the end of 2013.

Sebastian Vettel on his other ‘Fastest’ Teammates

Sebastian Vettel had several teammates in his career on different teams. Further on, Vettel spoke about Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo who both beat him in their respective short stints with the German.

Vettel said on Leclerc, “I think Charles has been something special. Just the amount of talent and how he manages to squeeze pace out of himself, in one lap in particular, in qualifying especially. So it was nice to see.”

Furthermore, he mentioned that it’s not fair to not mention Ricciardo, who beat him fair and square in 2014. He added, “Daniel obviously had a mega year in 2014. And maybe I was too upset with not being in the same position as 2013, with the difference in cars, and generation. The truth is he outperformed me.”

Vettel thoughtfully responded to this question by considering only his teammates. Still, he has his frenemies and cherished rivalries on the grid. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton can be said as some of the rivals that Vettel has relished racing with.

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As the sun sets on the 4-time champion’s career, it is gonna be an emotional Abu Dhabi GP this weekend. With lots of emotions and car donuts anticipated at Yas Marina, Vettel would hope to bow out in style.