Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, and former head of the Ferrari team when Michael Schumacher won five world titles has told the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy that Sebastian Vettel could end up beating Schumacher’s records. Of course, as Vettel has won his second straight world drivers’ title at 24 and Schumacher did the same in 1995 at 26, anything is possible. But what is the real comparison between these two drivers?
There are areas where Vettel has not yet proven himself the equal to Schumacher, in my opinion. One of these areas is racing in the wet. Of course, Vettel’s first victory was on the wet at Monza in a Toro Rosso, but he started that race from the pole thanks to a lucky – and smart – qualifying session when the track was drying, and he just held on to the lead throughout. Vettel also made one of his worst mistakes on the wet, when he once ran Mark Webber off the track on a wet track under the safety car in Japan. Schumacher proved himself many times on the wet (although he made mistakes too). We have yet to see Vettel move to a new team that has to build up its strength as Schumacher did at Ferrari, and see how he handles the lows and the set backs. Schumacher never seemed to complain, and his persistence and character made it possible for them to move on slowly but steadily to victory. How will Vettel handle sudden failure?