"There was something extra that I hadn't seen within anybody else": When Sebastian Vettel got emotional talking about Michael Schumacher

Former four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel once claimed that Michael Schumacher had something extra compared to everyone else on the grid. The German driver retired from the pinnacle of motorsport at the end of the 2012 season after his failed three-year comeback with Mercedes yielded just one podium finish.

Prior to his tenure with the German team, Schumacher had won two world championships with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 before making the jump to Ferrari in 1996. He went on to add five successive titles from 2000 to 2004 before calling it quits in 2006.

During an episode in Season 5 of the Netflix series 'Drive to Survive', which aired in February of 2023, Sebastian Vettel called Schumacher his 'hero', and reflected:

"I do think that he just had the natural gift, there was something extra I haven't seen within anybody else," Vettel said (2:00 onwards).

The former Aston Martin driver went on to race with Michael Schumacher's son, Mick, in the final two years of his racing career as the young German made his debut on the grid with Haas F1. However, Mick failed to make any substantial impact in the series and left at the end of the 2022 season and currently races in the WEC with Alpine.

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When Sebastian Vettel recalled his last conversation with Michael Schumacher

Sebastian Vettel recalled his last conversation with Michael Schumacher, which happened in 2013. The two developed a close bond during 2010-2012 when they shared the grid.

Speaking to RTL, Vettel reflected on his dynamic with the F1 legend and said:

“It’s still very, very difficult. I don’t want to say to accept it but to accept that he continues to fight. Yes, of course, I only wish him the best. But it’s still very often a topic I think about privately and I think about a lot and that is definitely a recurring theme."

Vettel then discussed how the last time they spoke was when he told Schumacher that he was going to become a father.

"Of course, the first thoughts immediately went to the last conversation we had together and that couldn’t be more positive. I told him that I was going to be a father and what was coming for us," Sebastian Vettel said.

"Mick was a teenager at the time. I think that's a completely different dimension when the father has an accident and then breaks away in this respect," he added.

Michael Schumacher made his last public appearance in 2013 before his life-threatening accident in December of that year, during a family skiing trip in the mountains.

Ever since, there has been little update regarding the condition of the former seven-time F1 world champion as he continues to fight after being put in a medically induced coma for years.