During a recent “On the grid” podcast, Sebastian Vettel paid his ex-teammate a huge compliment when he stated that Kimi Raikkonen is the biggest natural F1 talent he has ever worked with. It seems that this was a view held by many other F1 drivers.
Sebastian and Kimi partnered together at Ferrari between 2015 and 2018. His opinion that Kimi Raikkonen Is The Biggest Natural F1 Talent was borne out during the partnership, where they won 14 grand Prix, resulting in Ferrari achieving second place in the championship.
Their time spent together was very amicable, although there was an opening lap collision in Singapore with Max Verstappen joining the party. It was put down to a racing incident. Interestingly, this was the first time since F1 ran its first race in 1950 (Ferrari 1951)
that the Ferrari F1 cars were categorized as “DNF” on the opening lap.
Kimi Raikkonen Is The Biggest Natural F1 Talent
Sadly, while Sebastian Vettel came from a run of four-season championships with Red Bull, neither he nor Kimmy could translate that experience as teammates into a driver or constructors championship for Ferrari.
The last time Ferrari won the championship was in 2007, when Kimi brought the title back for Ferraris.
Vettel has had many very highly rates teammates, some of whom included
Despite these talented drivers he has partnered with, Sebastian holds Kimi out as the most naturally talented river.
Sebastian is quoted as saying.
“I think Kimi is actually the biggest natural talent I’ve come across, ever, Just in terms of raw speed, I think. And it shows in the car, obviously, but it also shows in any other form of car.””
Sebastian Vettel
“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.”
“What the car asks him to do comes naturally to him. If you give him a steering wheel, he knows what to do with it; in some situations, for many drivers, it is necessary to take measures, but for him, it is natural.”
“He surprised me right from the first handshake because he looked me in the eye,” said the 35-year-old
Sebbastian vettel
These words are high praise from someone renowned for straight talking and not painting a rosy picture to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
What Has Sebastian Vettel said About Other Drivers?
Sebastian has commented on other drivers. The most notable of these statements are listed below.
“I think it would have been a great challenge [driving alongside Hamilton], and I think I would have enjoyed that. But it just wasn’t meant to be,” he added. “We get along really well. We had maybe a misunderstanding in Baku. I was very upset”
(Link to article)
“I didn’t see a big deal of it because I was quite a long way back [in the field], but I think ultimately they are very close in pace, and if you are very close in pace, then you are fighting for the same spot on track more often,” said Vettel.
“It’s great if you are fighting for the lead and you have two drivers, two different cars fighting each other.
“We will see how it pans out over the course of the year.”
(Link to article).
On Charles Leclerc
Leclerc is the most talented driver I came across in 15 years of F1′ in a farewell note to Ferrari teammate
(link to article)
“I think he’s still one of the best drivers I had the pleasure to race against him and the not-so-pleasurable side of getting beaten by him years ago, and I still think he has very, very much to offer.”
“I think, in this regard, and I don’t know the details, but I guess McLaren failed to extract the potential that he has.”
(Link to article)
On Mark Webber
“You can say what you want about our relationship, but in the end, we pushed each other very hard. I will miss that”
(link to article)
Conclusion
And so, the end of a magnificent career sees one of the kindest, most talented formula one stars bow out. We wish Sebastian all the very best with his new ventures and the increased time he spends with his family.
During a recent “On the grid” podcast, Sebastian Vettel paid his ex-teammate a huge compliment when he stated that Kimi Raikkonen is the biggest natural F1 talent he has ever worked with. It seems that this was a view held by many other F1 drivers.
Sebastian and Kimi partnered together at Ferrari between 2015 and 2018. His opinion that Kimi Raikkonen Is The Biggest Natural F1 Talent was borne out during the partnership, where they won 14 grand Prix, resulting in Ferrari achieving second place in the championship.
Their time spent together was very amicable, although there was an opening lap collision in Singapore with Max Verstappen joining the party. It was put down to a racing incident. Interestingly, this was the first time since F1 ran its first race in 1950 (Ferrari 1951)
that the Ferrari F1 cars were categorized as “DNF” on the opening lap.
