Sebastian Vettel reflects on Ayrton Senna’s role in sparking his love for Formula 1. Seb on Ayrton Senna's legacy.

Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel is often credited with looking to follow in Michael Schumacher’s footsteps in Formula 1, but the four-time Formula One world champion has revealed that Ayrton Senna played just as important a role in sparking his love of the sport.

Michael Schumacher’s excellence in the 1990’s and 2000’s left a lasting impression on a young Sebastian Vettel, but the German names Senna as the driver with the greatest Formula 1 legacy.

“It’s very hard to pick your first memory, but the first images I saw that were linked to Formula 1 was when he raced [in Brazil] and he won,” Sebastian Vettel told Auto Bild in 2019. “Even though he lost a lot of gears, he was exhausted and he nearly couldn’t lift the trophy.

“The images of that car, the Marlboro car, was very iconic. My father was a huge fan of Ayrton Senna so those are the reasons why, like you intend to follow what your parents follow at that age so he was watching Formula 1 and I followed. So for me, he was the first person I linked to Formula 1. I think his legacy is probably the biggest or greatest that one could leave to the sport. I think he passed away way too early. There was a lot more that we probably could have enjoyed from him, racing but probably also outside of the car.”

While Senna is remembered for his ruthless on-track nature, he is also remembered for his generous and very human persona away from the circuit, a quality that Sebastian Vettel holds in high regard.

“It was not his successes that left a profound impression, but the person behind it,” continued Vettel. “He had incredible talent in the car, but he was also a very humble guy. He took this attitude into the racing car and that made him stronger than the others.”