Two of a kind

Sebastian Vettel has no problem being compared to his pal Schuey
In 2004 Sebastian Veffel undertook his firstever Formula 3 test with Colin Kolles. When the day was over his mobile rang and, much to the surprise of the team boss, Seb proceeded to give whoever was on the other end a detailed debrief on his progress.
When the call was done, Kolles enquired as to the identity of the other party. “Michael,” said the youngster. Familiar with Veffel through their mutual karting acquaintances, the World Champion was calling from Fiorano to check on the progress of the Formula BMW graduate.
Now firm friends rather than master and pupil, the two men have won the Nations Cup together at the Race of Champions for the past four years. Veffel has long had to field questions about being the “new Schumacher”, and having won the title, the comparisons won’t stop.
“Michael is a very special driver,” he says. “I have known him for quite a while now. I talked quite a lot with him after he made his comeback, we see each other quite often at the races and we travel together sometimes.
“But for me, most of the time it’s just Michael. It’s not Michael as a driver it’s more Michael as a person. And then sometimes you realise Michael is a very special driver, one of the most successful in history.
“I think to compare anybody to Michael is very difficult. If you see what he achieved you ask yourself if someone will ever achieve something like that again?
“Maybe one day someone will, maybe there will never be something like that again, you don’t know. As I said, I appreciate him a lot as a driver but also as a person. Especially with a lot of contact I see him much more these days as a person, rather than when I was a kid, looking up to him as an F1 driver and World Champion and so on.”