Jan.11 (GMM) The sport’s two quadruple world champions admit equalling F1 legend Juan Manuel Fangio’s five titles would be a special achievement.
Last year, Lewis Hamilton joined Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost in being F1’s only four-time world champions.
Now, Hamilton and Vettel are looking ahead to Fangio’s five crowns, which has been bettered only by seven time title winner Michael Schumacher.
When asked about Fangio, Ferrari’s Vettel said: “Certainly we will never match him in how successful he was in such a short time and with so few races.
“To have achieved what he did then, where a lot of things needed to come together and car reliability was not what it is now, I think he’s probably the best we’ve ever had in terms of putting it all together.”
Mercedes’ Hamilton agrees: “To have achieved what he achieved then, when danger was at its worst, I think he’s the driver that everyone admires the most.
“I actually think he should be celebrated more for his success,” he added. “It’s not really mentioned a huge amount. I feel he’s the godfather of the sport for the drivers.”