Schumacher Backed Ferrari Star for Greatness: Montezemolo

Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has said that even Michael Schumacher has faith in Sebastian Vettel. The 7-time World champion was of the opinion that Vettel would be a great Ferrari driver.

Montezemolo was in Cologne, Germany at the opening ceremony of the Michael Schumacher Collection exhibition. The Italian shared a few stories from his time with the most successful F1 champion in the world.

Meanwhile, Schumacher’s family has made sure to maintain his privacy as he continues to recover. Speaking of the German driver, Montezemolo said: “I think of Michael very often, I still think of him every weekend of racing, he was a Vettel fan, and when I hired Sebastian, Michael was happy. Because a few years before we hired him, Michael told me Vettel would be a great driver for Ferrari.”

Ferrari’s last constructor’s title was in 2008 when Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen were teammates. Montezemolo hoped to see Ferrari at the top with Vettel, a driver even Schumacher appreciated.

“Michael has won so many titles with us, Sebastian, unfortunately, not yet. I hope he can start a new era soon, he can win many consecutive titles like Michael. I think Vettel is a strong driver.”

“I hope he can follow Schumacher’s example, even if it will not be easy despite being young and strong. But as I said, he is strong and this year can finally count on an excellent single-seater. He does not have too much pressure on him, as of now Mercedes has not shown signs of being too competitive, so he will have a lot of chances, maybe it could be a good year.”

Montezemolo said that he tried to convince Schumacher to return to Ferrari to replace the injured Felipe Massa. The year was 2009 and the Brazilian had suffered a terrible accident in Hungary.

“I was really sad when Felipe had that terrible incident in Budapest in 2009. I called Michael to my office, and I said, ‘Michael, listen, you have to run, you have to do it for me, for Ferrari.’ it was impossible to convince him, but after an hour he said:’ OK, I cannot say no. ‘ “