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Two times world champion Sebastian Vettel remains surprised by the level of competitiveness this year.
The Red Bull driver was really impressive at Valencia before his retirement, due to an alternator failure. Fernando Alonso clinched the victory and took the benefit of Lewis Hamilton's retirement in the ultimate lap.
The Ferrari driver leads the standings but the world championship is wide open, with seven different winners in eight races.
Sebastian Vettel is aware of this competition and says to the BBC during an interview: "The ones that stand out are probably Fernando (Alonso), he's one of the most complete drivers. Lewis (Hamilton) is very, very quick. There are plenty of others. At the moment we have a lot of drivers performing at a similar level - it is very competitive. Michael (Schumacher) is still in the game. I don't think he has lost it."
"At the moment we have a lot of drivers performing at a similar level - it is very competitive," he added. "It is a long list at the moment. We have had a lot of different winners this season and all of those drivers are very competitive and very fast."
Asked if drivers should be judged only by the number of titles they won, Sebastian Vettel replied: "Yes and no. The success is a big part of it. If you look at great names from the past, drivers like Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart... they all won a lot of titles. But there are other names that stay in your head and stay around because they had something extra. They were special. All F1 drivers are very quick, but those guys had something extra, something maybe the people loved, he was very entertaining, it was very special to watch him driving the car. There are plenty of other characters who maybe didn't win the title but are still people's heroes and rightly so."
The Red Bull driver was really impressive at Valencia before his retirement, due to an alternator failure. Fernando Alonso clinched the victory and took the benefit of Lewis Hamilton's retirement in the ultimate lap.
The Ferrari driver leads the standings but the world championship is wide open, with seven different winners in eight races.
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| Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB8. (Photo: WRi2) |
Sebastian Vettel is aware of this competition and says to the BBC during an interview: "The ones that stand out are probably Fernando (Alonso), he's one of the most complete drivers. Lewis (Hamilton) is very, very quick. There are plenty of others. At the moment we have a lot of drivers performing at a similar level - it is very competitive. Michael (Schumacher) is still in the game. I don't think he has lost it."
"At the moment we have a lot of drivers performing at a similar level - it is very competitive," he added. "It is a long list at the moment. We have had a lot of different winners this season and all of those drivers are very competitive and very fast."
Asked if drivers should be judged only by the number of titles they won, Sebastian Vettel replied: "Yes and no. The success is a big part of it. If you look at great names from the past, drivers like Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart... they all won a lot of titles. But there are other names that stay in your head and stay around because they had something extra. They were special. All F1 drivers are very quick, but those guys had something extra, something maybe the people loved, he was very entertaining, it was very special to watch him driving the car. There are plenty of other characters who maybe didn't win the title but are still people's heroes and rightly so."