Red Bull Racing's team principal Christian Horner has said that his former driver Sebastian Vettel has become a much more rounded driver at Ferrari ever since he joined the team in 2015, even though he won four championships with the Bulls.
Vettel became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula One championship back in 2010, when he secured his first title of the four he would eventually win at Red Bull. The German was a superb talent, and his progression at Red Bull over the years was apparent according to Horner.
“He grew with the team, he produced some fantastic performances,” Horner said on Formula One's F1: Beyond the Grid when remembering the years after Vettel's first title.
“When he got into a position at the front of a race, his ability to control a Grand Prix, manage a race was phenomenal.
"He just got better and better and better each year he was with the team.”
Vettel went on to win four consecutive championships at the Bulls between 2010 and 2013. After a frustrating year in 2014, where Vettel got out-driven by his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo at times, the German opted to switch to Ferrari after the 2014-season, ending the six-year chapter he had at the Austrian team.
At Ferrari, Vettel has yet to win a championship as Mercedes have dominated the hybrid-era so far, but Horner reckons his former pupil has grown as a driver at the Italian team.
“He’s a much more rounded driver," he continued.
"He was still very young when he won those four world championships.
"Having a few character-building years at Ferrari have made him more rounded.
"He’s very good under pressure.
"He’s very much a rock within that team.
"If he gets a sniff of a chance after the summer break, he’ll be very difficult to beat.”