Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton – Who is a legend in the making?

Records are set to be broken. Michael Schumacher, the legendary F1 driver, had a few to his name before he retired for the final time and had set the standards for the current set of drivers to achieve.

Here’s a look at the two prominent drivers in today’s age, who are most likely to overhaul the German’s record and re-write history.

Sebastian Vettel : The German wunderkind

Michael Schumacher with Sebastian Vettel

It wasn’t long ago that Sebastian Vettel was a rookie waiting to get into Formula One. But here he is now, looking to win his fourth World Championship title after having won it consecutively in the last three years.

The German wunderkind, on his way to the top, broke some “youngest ever” records in Formula One. A few of them include the youngest driver ever to win a single, double and triple world championship, the youngest driver to score points in F1, secure a pole position, lead a race and win a race.

In addition to that, he finds himself in the record sheets with of some the greatest ever drivers in the history of Formula One such as Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna.

Looking at his F1 career graph and current form, Vettel remains the favourite to break his childhood idol and compatriot Michael Schumacher’s impeccable records.

The striking similarities between the two drivers had the German media calling Vettel as ‘Baby Schumi’. While Schumacher’s stint with Ferrari saw the team turn their fortunes around in the late 90s and early 2000s, Vettel’s stay at Red-Bull helped them take glory in the Constructors’ Championship in the recent years (2010-12).

Vettel , who is only 25, has a lot to offer before quitting the sport. At least 10 years, if not more, in Formula One and he could have records of his own.

For some people though, Vettel’s attitude doesn’t really have the charm of a true champion. The same was said about Schumacher during his prime days at Formula One.

For these people, Vettel is arrogant, insensitive and has a bad-boy attitude. I personally agree with these opinions and feel success does come with a lot of baggage. Guess that’s why they say it always helps to keep your feet grounded.

The Big Question: Will Vettel be able to keep up with his glory days if he was to shift to a different team and a different car? Maybe not.

Lewis Hamilton : Playing second fiddle

Michael Schumacher with Lewis Hamilton

Once touted to be the next Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton hasn’t really been on-course to achieve the success tasted by the legendary German driver. And the tag which Hamilton got, was before Sebastian Vettel arrived on the F1 seen.

Lewis Hamilton is undoubtedly a great driver based on his skills and attitude. But his ability to win races has been considerably lower as compared to that of Schumacher or Vettel.

Could Hamilton’s considerable dip in performance be attributed to the car that he drove? Well, that may be the case. During his stay with McLaren-Mercedes, the British driver managed to win the World Championship once. But that was in 2008.

The performances in the seasons that followed weren’t really encouraging for Hamilton. While he did manage to get on the pole, he wasn’t able to convert them into race wins. That he wasn’t able to finish among the top three in the drivers’ table during the last four years was utterly disappointing.

On the other hand, Vettel managed to win races and Championships in his fast-paced Red-Bull.

Among other reasons, Hamilton finally made the switch to Mercedes at the end of the season last year. While this year too hasn’t been a good one for Lewis, with just a single race win in Hungary, he has still managed to be in the hunt for the Championship and is currently third.

But Hamilton has an opportunity to turn things around in a new team with all his experience, like Vettel and Schumacher had done. He has Mercedes Team principal (Ex-Ferrari Technical Director) Ross Brawn as his Godfather, one of the men who are equated with Schumacher and Ferrari’s success.

Come to think of it, the Hamilton and Vettel duel reminds me of the tortoise and the hare story that I read as a kid.

While Vettel has to be the hare and Hamilton the tortoise, it remains to be seen whether the story has a similar outcome of the tortoise reaching the records first or will the hare have all the glory.

We have a lot of time on our hands before we find out.

Till then keep calm and enjoy Formula One!