"Give him a steering wheel, and he knows what to do" - Sebastian Vettel rates his former Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen's 'natural' racing abilities

Sebastian Vettel feels that Kimi Raikkonen is the most 'naturally' gifted driver on the Formula 1 grid. While there have been many drivers Vettel has competed against, it seems that he was most impressed with Raikkonen's driving style.

He stated that the Finnish was so natural at driving that it didn't take him much time to get acquainted with any car. According to Vettel, all Kimi required was just some time with the car and then he was extremely fast against other drivers on the track.

On the Beyond the Grid podcast, Sebastian Vettel said:

"If there was a discipline of switching cars every day, after 10 days, Kimi will be lapping everyone else. Just because he's a natural. It doesn't take time [for Kimi] to adapt to the car, to what the car requires. You give him a steering wheel, and he knows what to do."

After Sebastian Vettel signed for Ferrari in 2015, he was teammates with Kimi Raikkonen for the next four seasons. Until 2018, the duo were excellent while performing for the team.

With a real opportunity for both for the world championships in 2018, Vettel finished the season 2nd and Raikkonen at 3rd. After this, however, the team signed Charles Leclerc and Raikkonen moved down to Alfa Romeo, where he spent three seasons before retiring after the 2021 season.

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Sebastian Vettel was impressed by Raikkonen's raw speed in the car

Before Raikkonen was signed by Ferrari, he spent his previous two seasons at Lotus and was extremely good with the team.

His performances throughout his career have been worth noting. Though he won the championship only once in 2007, he has come quite close to it multiple times, be it McLaren, Ferrari, or Lotus. It is quite apparent that the car hasn't mattered to him much, and that is what Sebastian Vettel revealed he was impressed by.

While Vettel was still fighting for another world championship, it was obvious that Raikkonen was not much behind him. Both gave equal competition to each other in the cars. Sebastian Vettel stated that Raikkonen's raw speed was immaculate:

"Just in terms of raw speed, I think. It shows in the car, obviously, but it shows also in any other form of car."

After Raikkonen left Ferrari in 2019, Vettel still tried to chase the World Championship, but could not. The German retired from the sport after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2022, a year after Kimi Raikkonen did.