“I don’t know him”: Sebastian Vettel opens up when asked about his relations with Fernando Alonso

Tanish Chachra | 11/01/2023
"I don't know him": Sebastian Vettel opens up when asked about his relations with Fernando Alonso

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso have shared a long rivalry since Vettel came to the front and started battling for the championship. During Red Bull’s glorious reign of 2010-2013, Alonso with Ferrari was the only respectable challenge to them.

The two even took the championship down to the wire in two different years. Though, on both occasions, Alonso had to face disappointment. But they had an intense rivalry for a prolonged period.

Combined, the two have six world championships, making the absolute legends of the sport. While Vettel has retired from F1, Alonso is still going ahead.

Also read: George Russell jokes about being Lewis Hamilton fan that kept taking him out in Gran Turismo

Sebastian Vettel doesn’t know Fernando Alonso

The two drivers have raced against each other for over 14 years. Thus, the two surely had a long time to know each other. However, Vettel claimed that personally, he has no idea about who Alonso is at a personal level.

“I don’t know him, really. I wouldn’t say we don’t get along. I think we respect each other. But it’s just never happened that we really got to know each other, spend time [together] or talk much outside racing,” said Vettel in Beyond the Grid.

Though, as a competitor, Vettel claims that he respects him a lot and is inspired by the fact that even at this stage, he is so passionate about continuing in the sport.

Toughest challenge

Throughout Vettel’s career, the German race driver only got major challenges from Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The 35-year-old rates Alonso as the toughest competitor.
In the podcast, he rated him the toughest rival citing his 2010 and 2012 championships, which were intense and went on till the last days. He even claims that those two years were his favourite.
Vettel in 2015 replaced Alonso at Ferrari. The German race driver was brought in to challenge Mercedes’ rise back then. Eight years later, the opposite happened. Alonso replaced the retirement-bound Vettel at Aston martin ahead of the 2023 season.
Post Edited By: Samriddhi Jaiswal
Aston Martin Fernando Alonso Sebastian Vettel

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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