Sebastian Vettel vs Michael Schumacher: How do the 2 German F1 champions compare?

Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher are two of the greatest German F1 drivers in the history of the sport. The former is a four-time world champion, while the latter is a seven-time world champion.

Interestingly, the former idolized the latter as everyone in Vettel's generation looked up to Schumacher when they were growing up. Vettel even forged a healthy friendship with Schumacher during their time racing together from 2010 to 2012, just as he has forged a great relationship with the latter's son Mick in the last two seasons.

Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel were very different characters, yet in some ways, they were quite similar as well. With the latter calling time on his career this weekend, let's take a look at how similar the two were.

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Sebastian Vettel vs Michael Schumacher: How similar were they?

Sensational debut win in the wet weather

Michael Schumacher's first ever race win was at Spa in 1992 in a Benetton. This was a car that was a midfield contender in a field that had the mighty McLaren and Williams romping away at the front.

Schumacher was never supposed to win that race. He was a good driver, something that everyone had recognized by then in what was his first full season in F1. Driving a Benetton, however, did not inspire much confidence in terms of winning a race. When you added Spa to the mix, it was laughable to think the German could have won the race.

Yet, he made it happen, in the wet weather no less. Michael Schumacher made his debut at the 1991 F1 Belgian GP and with the 1992 iteration of the event, the German announced to the world that he was a force to be reckoned with.

For Sebastian Vettel, the task was arguably more arduous as he was driving a Toro Rosso, a car that was more or less at the back of the midfield than the front. Having said that, the torrential conditions at Monza in 2008 suddenly made the Toro Rosso a potent weapon on the grid. Vettel, driving a midfield car, dominated the weekend on a grid comprising Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota, BMW, and Honda. He had sneakily made his way to the F1 grid in 2007, but the 2008 F1 Italian GP gave the world its new future F1 star.

Made their name in non-traditional teams

Michael Schumacher made his F1 debut with Jordan, and in his second race, he was driving for Benetton. After spending two years more or less fighting just behind the front runners, Schumacher finally got a car capable of fighting at the front in 1994 and he did not miss. The German won the title that year by beating Damon Hill and then repeated the feat in 1995 as well.

Similarly, Sebastian Vettel participated in a race with BMW Sauber only to move to Toro Rosso shortly after that in 2007. He completed a full season with the Italian outfit in 2008 before his promotion to the Red Bull senior team. It was here that he became a runner-up in 2009 and eventually won the title in 2010. The German did not look back after that as he won 4 consecutive titles with the team from 2010 to 2013.

Now, if we look at F1's history, the name "Benetton" is not one bit associated with the traditional. Rather, the team represented a clothing brand. So when Michael Schumacher won those titles, this was one of the criticisms the team faced as it was not your "traditional" one at the time. No wonder once the German left, the team could not reach those heights again and left the sport.

Similarly for Sebastian Vettel, even though Red Bull is a massive name in the sport now, it was not a massive name at the time. Drivers like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had mocked the team and termed it a "drinks company" at one point. Yet, it was this team that became the juggernaut we know now and became the team that gave Vettel his four titles.

Valued the privacy of their personal lives

To many F1 fans, it was a surprise when Sebastian Vettel said in his farewell video that he was a father of three kids. The German lived one of the most private lives in an ecosystem where fans even know the name of Lewis Hamilton's dogs. For Vettel, the best we know about his personal life is his father, who was a frequent presence on the track and is arguably one of the only ones present in the public eye.

Before proclaiming his retirement, Vettel did not even have a social media account and was adamant that he wanted to keep his private life the way it was. Michael Schumacher had a similar outlook on his life and he kept things as private as possible. His wife Corrina was his pillar and she would show up to races but other than that, most of his family was never at the racetrack and he kept it like that.

Sebastian Vettel will retire from the sport and leave a legacy of being one of the best drivers of his generation. Apart from that, it is interesting to see how his career drew parallels to the man he looked up to when he was dreaming of becoming an F1 driver.