For Stewart, Vettel is not yet a great champion

If he wins his third consecutive title at the end of this 2012 season, Vettel would become the youngest triple world champion in the history of the discipline, ahead of Ayrton Senna. He would also be the only one along with Schumacher and Fangio to achieve three successive crowns.

Despite everything, Jackie Stewart, crowned in 1969, 1971, and 1973, believes that the young German driver is not yet among the great champions of Formula 1: “To truly show that you are one of the greatest, you have to perform when you don’t have the best car. If you have a car superior to the others, it is relatively easy to win the championship,” the Scot tells the BBC.

Comments that do not prevent Sir Stewart from being a great admirer of the one often nicknamed ‘baby Schumi’: « I am a big fan of Sebastian Vettel. He completely dominated the Korean Grand Prix and drove very maturely for someone who is 25 years old. It was very impressive. »

It is true that at 25, Vettel breaks all precocity records. Youngest driver to score a point in F1, youngest poleman in history, youngest winner, etc., and – from a statistical perspective – he ranks among the legends of this sport.

It is also true that at the beginning of the season, driving a Red Bull that was less dominant than its predecessor, Sebastian Vettel seemed less at ease, and Mark Webber was matching his young double World Champion teammate. But now that the Austrian team’s car has regained its vigor, it’s Vettel who is racking up the victories. However, these successes are not solely credited to the German’s talent: « I have the utmost respect for Sebastian, but he couldn’t have achieved what he has without Adrian Newey. Under Newey’s leadership, Red Bull bounced back after a more challenging start to the season and now has the best equipment, » emphasizes Stewart.