“Fernando Alonso was probably the toughest”- Sebastian Vettel ranks 2-time World Champion above Lewis Hamilton as strongest rival

Sebastian Vettel cemented his legacy as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time during his stint at Red Bull. The German driver won four back-to-back World Championships between 2010 and 2013 in an era that was dominated by Red Bull.

Vettel did not coast home to most of those Title wins, with Fernando Alonso coming very close in 2010 and 2012. The Spaniard, who was with Ferrari back then, was Vettel’s main rival and only lost out on the 2010 Title in the very last race of the season. Vettel left Red Bull in 2015 to join Ferrari and went on to have numerous battles with another legendary driver in Lewis Hamilton.

However, according to Vettel. his battles with Alonso were tougher to deal with. He also labeled the former Renault driver as very respectable and revealed that he loved racing wheel-to-wheel with him.

“I think I admire him as a competitor,” he said to FormulaPassion. “It was probably the toughest. Especially in the early years, and we had such close battles.”

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Competing against Fernando Alonso was one of Sebastian Vettel’s favorite F1 moments

In 2010 and 2012, Alonso came very close to bringing Championship glory back to Ferrari. Unfortunately, for the Oviedo-born driver, Vettel ended up on top on both occasions. However, Vettel looks back on those Title fights as some of his favorite moments in F1.

“At the end of the championships, both in 2010 and 2012 in particular, that it’s still one of my favorite moments,” he added.

The 35-year-old went on to talk about Alonso being fun to have wheel-to-wheel battles against. It is something that is very difficult, but Alonso makes it seem easy and was always respectful while doing so.

“I think he’s a great competitor. Probably one of the toughest he’s ever faced, because he’s always there and never backs down. But also very respectful when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing, which I really enjoyed.”

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Sebastian Vettel and Alonso never got along as friends

Sebastian Vettel praised Alonso a lot when it came to racing. However, talking about matters off the track, Vettel did not have nice things to say about his former rival. He admits that he and Alonso never got along due to plenty of differences in opinion.

“I don’t know him as a person,” Vettel revealed.  “I think we respect each other, but it never happened that we really knew each other. That we spent time together or that we talked a lot outside of racing.”

At the end of the 2022 season, Alonso left Alpine to join Aston Martin as Vettel’s replacement, who announced his retirement from the sport.