Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Arrivabene: Vettel a carbon copy of Schumacher

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Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene believes Sebastian Vettel is “a carbon copy” of Michael Schumacher in many areas.

Four-time world champion Vettel joined Ferrari over the winter, following in the footsteps of his childhood idol Schumacher who won five titles at Maranello. Arrivabene was another new addition to the Scuderia as he took over as team principal after the final race of 2014, and as someone who saw Schumacher at work first-hand, Arrivabene says the similarities that Vettel has shown excite him.

“I was there at the time of Michael, I was living in the heart of the Scuderia,” Arrivabene told Leo Turrini’s Quotidiano blog. “I confess that there are times when I look at Vettel and I am thrilled, amazed: I say, in some things, in attitudes, it manifests itself that he really seems to be a carbon copy of Schumi! There are impressive similarities for those who have known both. We all hope that in time the results are the same.”

And Arrivabene also notes the positive way in which Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen are working together so far this year.

“There’s also a healthy assumption that there is good collaboration between Seb and Raikkonen. I have a lot of belief in Kimi and I have never hidden that. They are friends who knew each other and also have a great desire to cooperate. I'm not interested in references to the past. Certainly this year Ferrari is getting the sum of the drivers’ energies to improve the car.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.