Sebastian Vettel says his battle with team-mate Mark Webber has been closer than it might have looked.
Webber will exit Formula 1 at the end of the season for a new challenge in the World Endurance Championship with Porsche. He joined Red Bull Racing in 2007, with Vettel moving to the Milton Keynes based squad in 2009. F1's new four-time world champion feels the contest between the two hasn't been as one-sided as some think.
Webber has run Vettel close at times, narrowly missing out on the world title in 2010. However, since the change to Pirelli tyres in 2011, he has taken just three wins to the German driver's 27.
Talking at Red Bull Racing's factory on Wednesday at a special press conference, he said: "As team mates for the last five years I think we’ve got to know each other very, very well meaning that I know his strengths and I know his – not weaknesses, but maybe the corners where I have a little bit of an advantage and vice-versa."
"It has always been very close, maybe closer than what people remember so I appreciated that and therefore I have enormous respect."
The two haven't had the best of relationships both on and off track, with some high-profile disputes - most recently the Malaysian Grand Prix where Vettel ignored orders from Red Bull to stay behind Webber and overtook him to win the race.
"Surely you have to be honest as well, we didn’t have the best relationship probably on a personal level, if you look back," he said. "But at the end of the day I think we were very successful for the team as well, winning four constructors’ [championships] in a row, so make sure that together we scored enough points for the team."
Vettel also talked about the chance of him switching teams. He admits that even if he does move to a different team, he will still have critics and is happy where he is at the moment. "Even if I go to another team I will still have people who don't like who I am, what I do, etcetera, so it doesn't really change much in the end," he said.
"At the end of the day you have to be happy with yourself and right now I can assure you I'm very happy where I am and what I do."
He also touched on his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who currently races for sister team Toro Rosso. "Next year Daniel [Ricciardo] is coming in. It's difficult to judge right now but I'm sure he will do a good job and he will try very, very hard to give me a hard time," Vettel added.
But what is his next goal? "The next race. I'm not trying to look far ahead, I'm not trying to keep looking back. You should always look forward. We've had many, many great moments, very special moments, but of course I believe the biggest moment in my life is yet to come."
"Otherwise it would be quite sad at the age of 26 to look to the future and say the greatest moment has been already and I have nothing to look forward to."
He also shared his season highlight so far: "It has to be the German Grand Prix. I've been trying very hard the last couple of years and finally succeeded. It felt great. It was a tight race, I think the Lotus was a little bit quicker than us on Sunday but we managed to stay ahead and win."
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Webber has run Vettel close at times, narrowly missing out on the world title in 2010. However, since the change to Pirelli tyres in 2011, he has taken just three wins to the German driver's 27.
Talking at Red Bull Racing's factory on Wednesday at a special press conference, he said: "As team mates for the last five years I think we’ve got to know each other very, very well meaning that I know his strengths and I know his – not weaknesses, but maybe the corners where I have a little bit of an advantage and vice-versa."
"It has always been very close, maybe closer than what people remember so I appreciated that and therefore I have enormous respect."
The two haven't had the best of relationships both on and off track, with some high-profile disputes - most recently the Malaysian Grand Prix where Vettel ignored orders from Red Bull to stay behind Webber and overtook him to win the race.
"Surely you have to be honest as well, we didn’t have the best relationship probably on a personal level, if you look back," he said. "But at the end of the day I think we were very successful for the team as well, winning four constructors’ [championships] in a row, so make sure that together we scored enough points for the team."
Vettel also talked about the chance of him switching teams. He admits that even if he does move to a different team, he will still have critics and is happy where he is at the moment. "Even if I go to another team I will still have people who don't like who I am, what I do, etcetera, so it doesn't really change much in the end," he said.
"At the end of the day you have to be happy with yourself and right now I can assure you I'm very happy where I am and what I do."
He also touched on his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who currently races for sister team Toro Rosso. "Next year Daniel [Ricciardo] is coming in. It's difficult to judge right now but I'm sure he will do a good job and he will try very, very hard to give me a hard time," Vettel added.
But what is his next goal? "The next race. I'm not trying to look far ahead, I'm not trying to keep looking back. You should always look forward. We've had many, many great moments, very special moments, but of course I believe the biggest moment in my life is yet to come."
"Otherwise it would be quite sad at the age of 26 to look to the future and say the greatest moment has been already and I have nothing to look forward to."
He also shared his season highlight so far: "It has to be the German Grand Prix. I've been trying very hard the last couple of years and finally succeeded. It felt great. It was a tight race, I think the Lotus was a little bit quicker than us on Sunday but we managed to stay ahead and win."
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