'He blitzed everybody in a car far less superior.' Lewis Hamilton on Sebastian Vettel: "We've always probably connected, because we've come from similar sort of backgrounds, in a sense of, we didn't come from privileged backgrounds, we both came from normal working-class families, and there was a real struggle on the journey to get to Formula 1." "I would always see with Sebastian when he's had his dad there, his dad's such a cool character, and always so nice and polite, and obviously worked so hard to create the opportunity just like my dad." "I had read about the success he was having, I think he had something like 18 wins out of 20. Everything happened very early for him, in a sense that he, when he got to Formula 1, he got that amazing pole position in Monza, and one in the rain, which was just showed how precise and how adaptive he was as a driver." "He blitzed everybody in a car far less superior, and I think that was a really defining moment, showing that this guy's got, he's got what it takes to be a world champion." [From episode 1 of Sebastian Vettel's new documentary, photo from 2008 taken by Mark Thompson.]

🚨 | Ralf Schumacher says Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s longevity in F1 is limiting opportunities for young drivers: "If everyone races until they are 45, we can actually close F2 down." "At some point, there is simply no room left for the young drivers."

#OnThisDay in 1984. Niki Lauda becomes F1 World Champion for the third and final time. At Estoril, Lauda (McLaren-TAG), having started 11th, finished 2nd to teammate Alain Prost at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Lauda beating Prost to the title by half a point! 1/2 © FOM #F1