F1, Sebastian Vettel crowns Kimi Raikkonen

Vettel chose Raikkonen as best teammate

Sebastian Vettel, who is set to end his Formula 1 career at the upcoming Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, Nov. 20, gave his opinion on the best teammate he has had, during the “Beyond The Grid” podcast.

“I think Kimi Raikkonen is the greatest natural talent I’ve ever encountered in terms of pure speed,” said the Aston Martin driver. “If there was a discipline of changing cars every day, after ten days he would have surpassed everyone, simply because it’s natural for him, he doesn’t need time to adapt to the car, it comes naturally to him what the car asks him to do. If you give him a steering wheel in his hand he knows what to do with it, in some situations for many drivers it is necessary to have to take measures, but for him it is natural.”

“He surprised me from the first handshake because he looked me in the eyes, we drivers are often ‘absent’ with our heads at the time of introductions. He, on the other hand, immediately had great respect for me. There was never an argument between us because he was always direct. There was never anything that could shake or destabilize the relationship, I don’t want to say the bond, that we had,” the four-time F1 world champion concluded.