It's crazy to be competing with my hero Schumi: Vettel

Sebastian Vettel finds it "crazy" to still be competing against Michael Schumacher when he recalls his childhood and collecting karting trophies from his then hero.

The spotlight was yesterday on the 42-year-old Schumacher who celebrates the 20th anniversary of his debut in Formula One that took place at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps circuit.


Sebastian Vettel

As Vettel recalled, he was aged four at the time, in kindergarten, and unaware then of the impact Schumacher would have on his life and career. Unsurprisingly, it was Schumacher who proved to be his inspiration, with Vettel ultimately being crowned Formula One's youngest world champion last year. "I remember the first time I went to Hockenheim with my father to watch first practice for the German Grand Prix. It was raining like crazy, but we went all the way down to the first chicane, and Michael had this yellow Benetton at the time. After that there were a lot of races, go-karting. He was our hero. To see today we are racing against each other in Formula One is quite crazy."