Red Bull taskmaster insists Sebastian Vettel reminded him of 3x F1 champion - “He knew how to make optimal use of all the technical options”

Red Bull director Dr. Helmut Marko compared former F1 driver Sebastian Vettel to Niki Lauda because of his ability to understand the technicalities of a car and make the most out of it.

Vettel was a dominating driver when racing with Red Bull. At the time, he won four consecutive world championships and rose to fame with his immaculate driving skills. The German's technological understanding of the car gave him an advantage, as it helped him to extract the maximum performance out of the machine.

Sebastian Vettel, however, was not the only driver that F1 witnessed with such immense knowledge and experience of the cars. During the 1970s, Niki Lauda emerged to be one such driver. The way he understood and worked around a car gave him success, which he carried to Ferrari back in the day. His input also helped Mercedes become the dominating force they were until 2020.

Red Bull's director. Dr. Helmut Marko highlighted this similarity between the two drivers while talking to The Red Bulletin, revealing how Vettel made the optimal use of all the options.

"To some extent, Sebastian reminds me of Niki Lauda. He knew how to make optimal use of all the technical options," SoyMotor quoted him as saying.

While Lauda won the F1 world championship thrice in his career (1975, 1977 and 1984), Vettel dominated with four consecutive championships from 2010 to 2013.

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Helmut Marko reveals how Sebastian Vettel managed to stay ahead of his teammate Mark Webber

In the five seasons they spent as teammates, Mark Webber could never finish ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the championship, despite the former being a well-experienced driver.

Helmut Marko has now claimed that Vettel's skill to pull the most out of the car also helped him to remain ahead of Webber during the time he spent in F1.

"This helped him to be ahead, by a lot, of Mark Webber, who was a talented driver. Mark was unbeatable on some circuits like the Nürburgring or the final sector of Barcelona, but Sebastian was clearly ahead in the overall calculation of a season," Marko said in the aforementioned interview.

"Whenever there was a technical innovation, whether it was blown diffusers or a new tire supplier, he knew how to make optimal use of his technical experience . It was this skill that led him to become world champion four times," he added.

Sebastian Vettel continues to be an inspiring figure in the world of motorsports even after retiring. His active participation in activism has made him popular not only in Formula 1, but also across many other platforms.