Arrivabene: In some respects Vettel is better than Michael

Sebastian Vettel is "better in some ways" even than Formula 1's most successful driver of all time, according to Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

The Italian team boss contrasted Vettel and long-time Ferrari driver and F1 legend Schumacher in the pages of Corriere della Sera.

"Many said that Seb only wins because he has the best car and at times I thought so too," Arrivabene said. "Now that I work with him, I can say that, in some respects, he is even better than Michael.

"Especially his character, because Michael was an introvert who opened up to only a small group of people, while Seb is regarded by the guys as one of them," observed the Maranello team chief.

Schumacher of course galvanised the Ferrari team in the late nineties and turned the team into a mighty force winning five back-to-back world titles between 2000 and 2004.

A decade later, between 2010 and 2012, Vettel did a similar job at Red Bull winning three consecutive F1 world titles in the process.

Although Schumacher had little impact or influence on Vettel's junior career, the pair became closer once the younger German graduated into Formula 1.

The pair became teammates in the Race of Champions event held each year, and together won six Nations' Cup titles at the annual event.

Vettel told media when he joined Ferrari, "When I grew up Michael was my hero, and for all of us - and I speak for all of the kids at the go-kart track at the time in Germany - we looked up to him. When he turned up every year, and to look after us a little bit, it made our lives."

Former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo recalled during a recent interview, "The first to speak well of Vettel at Ferrari was Schumacher. It was the summer when he had to get back racing to replace Massa. He said: The perfect driver for you is Seb."

After his recent win in Singapore Vettel mused, "Michael's [record] is just ridiculous: number of wins, number of poles, number of fastest laps. I think all the statistics you can go for you compare yourself to him or anyone to him, so I think that's far away."

“So if you have 23 corners in Singapore, I consider myself being in turn one and Michael in turn 23. I'm not really looking at that. I'm having a great time. I think I can consider myself very lucky and blessed the way things have turned out," added Vettel.