Sebastian Vettel finds it crazy to still be rival against Michael Schumacher when he recalls his childhood and collect karting trophies from his then hero. Thursday saw Schumacher celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first appearance in Formula One that took place at Belgium's Spa-Franco champs’ circuit.
As Vettel recalled, he was aged four at the time, in kindergarten, and ignorant then of the impact his fellow German would have on his life and career. Naturally, it was Schumacher who proved to be his inspiration, with Vettel eventually being crowned Formula One's youngest world champion last year.
Sat alongside one another at Thursday's main FIA press conference, the two neighbors exchanged jokes and comments before Vettel was asked for his opinion on Schumacher's longevity.
Michael asked me to have some admiration,said 24-year-old Vettel with a smile.I remember the first time I went to Hockenheim with my father to watch first practice for the German Grand Prix.
It was raining like crazy, but we went all the way down to the first chicane, and Michael had this yellow Benetton at the time.To see a Formula One car, and to see Michael passing, even though he was probably on a fitting lap, nothing stunning, it was very special.
Unfortunately, nobody else went out because it was raining so hard, there were only a couple of cars, but that was the first time I keep in mind seeing Michael.After that there were a lot of races, go-karting. He was our hero.
We had this race in Kerpen which he attended at the end of the season to hand over the trophies.”Again, it was very special to see him, to meet him, to shake his hand, and to get the trophies presented by him.
There are still some pictures from that time, so you can envisage now knowing what happened in the past, to see today we are racing alongside each other in Formula One is quite crazy.I have a lot of admiration for him, and he is very particular to me, he was the hero of my childhood.