Photo by: Race of Champions
Sebastian Vettel has played down any suggestion he has set as a career target his friend and mentor Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles and 91 wins.
At the weekend in Dusseldorf, the pair duly won their fifth consecutive 'Nation's Cup' crown at the Race of Champions.
But in the F1 world, although the current and back-to-back world champion, 24-year-old Vettel is still five championships and 70 victories short of even matching Schumacher's all-time title records.
"Sure he can do it," Schumacher, 43 next month, is quoted by the German magazine Sport Bild.
"I've always said that records are there to be broken so why should I think differently about mine?" the Mercedes driver added.
Red Bull driver Vettel, however, said on Austrian television Servus TV on Monday: "What Michael achieved is so far away from what I have done.
Records are there to be broken
"So you can't set it as a goal."
But so dominant was Vettel's 2011 season that, when questioned, he could not recall how he celebrated his victory in Spain six months ago.
He disagreed about the details with his boss Christian Horner, laughing: "What we have here is a luxury problem!"
Another problem was his tendency, four times in 2011, to crash in Friday practice, but his other boss Dr Helmut Marko winked: "I have to say that, afterwards, he always won the race!"
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
How Senna’s early Pacific GP exit raised his Benetton suspicions
Schumacher F1 watch collection could top $4 million in auction
The contrasting fortunes of F1's big-name moves to Ferrari
Mercedes taking action to cure F1 car's “underlying balance” problem
Wolff: Mercedes can't just keep living off F1 "bright spots"
The F1 breakthroughs Mercedes made in Japan – and what's next
The plot twist that gave Arrow McLaren’s Ward his first win as team principal
WRC looking to add F1-style team radio to TV broadcasts
Formula E’s new Gen3 Evo car breaks cover
Adrian Newey set to leave Red Bull F1 team
The F1 hero-to-zero dividing line that has never been so thin
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments