Schumacher happy not to be racing Vettel

Vettel ended the year as the first driver to win nine races in a row in a single season. His total of 13 for the championship equalled Schumacher's record 2004 haul with Ferrari.

Schumacher happy not to be racing Vettel

(Reuters)





"He won all those races, 13 this year; Mark Webber, he won none. That is pretty shocking," Schumacher said in a season review posted by the Mercedes team on You Tube on Friday.

"I'm glad I'm not his (Vettel's) team mate."

Webber departed Formula One at the end of the season to join Porsche in endurance racing, with Australian compatriot Daniel Ricciardo replacing him.

Schumacher said he was happy for Vettel, the youngest quadruple champion at 26.

"If somebody can break all these records I prefer it to be him, than somebody else," added the German, who left the sport at the end of last season after coming out of retirement for three years with Mercedes.

Mercedes ended last season as overall runners-up to Red Bull, a big improvement on fifth place in 2012, with Germany's Nico Rosberg and Britain's Lewis Hamilton both winning races.

Schumacher, who is good friends with Vettel and races with him in the annual race of Champions event as Team Germany, said he had no regrets about his second retirement.

He felt Mercedes, who announced on Thursday that his old friend, ally and principal Ross Brawn was leaving at the end of the year, would be able to launch a real championship challenge in 2014.

"Everything now is there to have the base to fight the championship in the future. And that's what I think can happen," he said.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Mitch Phillips.)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Schumacher happy not to be racing Vettel | SBS News