Sebastian Vettel hopes to uphold Team Germany's honour along with teammate Mick Schumacher in this weekend's Race of Champions Nations Cup event in Sweden.
The four-time F1 world champion is paired with the Haas rookie for the second time in the ROC, with Vettel and Schumacher reaching the final two years ago in Mexico City only to be defeated by Team Nordic's chargers Tom Kristensen and Johan Kristofferson.
This weekend's event takes place on an ice track in Pite Havsbad, a venue located just 100 km south of the Arctic Circle, and Vettel and Schumacher have been on site for several days preparing their battle against a few of motorsport's best racers.
"I think it’s very exciting, I’m a big fan of this part of the world, of the north and its conditions in the winter," Vettel said.
"Not yet completely convinced of driving on ice, because I still struggle to judge exactly what I need to do. But it’s a lot of fun, I think it will be a fun competition.
"In particular it’s fun this time to be out on ice, it’s a different driving required. As usual, [there’s] very limited time to swap between the cars and get used to everything but that’s the challenge."
Vettel and Schumacher physically warmed up to this weekend's round of racing by indulging in a 10-km run on Friday in minus 14 degrees Celsius along with ROC rivals Tom Kristensen and Jimmie Johnson!
But when it comes to running on the icy track, the Aston Martin F1 driver hopes to find himself in a slightly warmer environment.
"We’ll see how we get on, we’ll try to do well together as Team Germany to fight off all the Scandinavian teams," he said.
"Last time we were out we finished second, we were in the final and were quite close. Generally, the Nations Cup has been quite good to Team Germany.
"With Michael, we won a couple of times. With Mick I need to stretch and we’ll try to keep that rhythm. Progressing as much as you can is always fun, because you get more driving. That’s the target."
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