Sebastian Vettel has faced some heavy hitters over the course of his fifteen years in Formula 1, but one driver ranks above them all when it comes to natural talent as far as the four-time world champion is concerned.
Among his own teammates, Vettel had to contend with Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull and with young gun Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
But on the eve of his retirement from the sport this weekend in Abu Dhabi, as he looks back on his life and times as a Grand Prix driver, Vettel singled out one man whose natural flair and genius has impressed him the most.
"I think Kimi [Raikkonen] is actually the biggest natural talent I’ve come across, ever," Vettel told F1's Tom Clarkson on the latest Beyond the Grid podcast..
"Just in terms of raw speed, I think. And it shows in the car, obviously, but it shows also in any other form of car.
"I think switching – if there was a discipline of switching cars every day – after 10 days he would be lapping everybody else, just because he's just a natural, it doesn’t take time to adapt to the car, to what the car requires.
"If you give him a steering wheel, he knows what to do with it. Sometimes you feel it’s unfair, you need to get used to it first and get an idea of the track or the conditions, but for him it’s just… boom."
Vettel raced alongside Raikkonen at Ferrari for four seasons and admits the relationship he enjoyed with the Finn during that period was the best he's ever had with a teammate in F1.
"I think with him, I probably had the best relationship out of all the teammates I had, because he was just so straightforward," explained F1's future retiree.
"There was never an argument. If we crashed into each other we talked about it, fixed what happened, maybe laughed about it…
"But there was never a question that anything could sort of shake up or destabilase the... I don’t want to say bond, but the relationship that we had.
"He’s been probably also the one when I came in, I remember, he was so respectful from the day I walked in, looking into my eyes.
"With other drivers I felt, 'OK I’m shaking hands, I’m saying hello, but actually the guy’s not present, he’s not here'.
"With people, I think Kimi’s been exceptional."
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