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F1 Drivers Who Battled Sebastian Vettel Over the Years at the Race of Champions

Published 02/05/2022, 4:18 AM EST

Following the 2021 F1 season, the announcement arrived that Sebastian Vettel would be teaming up with Mick Schumacher for the 2022 Race of Champions, representing Germany.

As expected, the four-time world champion has a lot of obstacles to evade in order to win the Race of Champions title and also the Nations’ Cup this year. Hence, amidst the ongoing event in Sweden, let’s dive deeper into the history of Vettel at ROC. And he does carry a solid record since his debut in 2007.

Sebastian Vettel’s debut ROC event

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Vettel made his first Race of Champions appearance in 2007 which took place at the Wembley Stadium in London. Quite unsurprisingly, in his very first stint, he managed to team up with the racing legend, Michael Schumacher as the duo put on a dominant show throughout the event.

Eventually, they also managed to win the Nations’ Cup that year. Hence, having enjoyed each other’s company in 2007, the German pair chose to work together over the subsequent five years from 2008 to 2012.

Interestingly, over all of the five years, Vettel and Schumacher defended the Nations’ Cup trophy, proving that they are the strongest racing pair in ROC.

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Vettel rejoined the ROC grid in 2015, this time joining hands with Nico Hulkenberg. The pair worked well in tandem, as Vettel went on to win his first ROC title, beating leading Le Mans race winner, Tom Kristensen. The very same year, Vettel and Hulkenberg also finished as runner-up in the Nations Cup.

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In 2017, Vettel got himself eliminated from the first heat of the individual competition. However, then arrived the much-fiercer version of Vettel who single-handedly carried Germany to the top of the Nations Cup after his teammate, Pascal Wehrlein had to quit following a horrendous crash.

Later in 2019, Vettel teamed up with his mentor’s son, Mick Schumacher, as the pair went on to finish second in the Nations Cup. The Red Bull world champion did win the ROC Skills Challenge but ended up getting eliminated from the group stages of the individual competition.

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Apart from Vettel, there are several other F1 drivers who have taken part in the ROC; David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Felipe Massa, Juan Pablo Montoya, Esteban Ocon, Romain Grosjean, Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok, Jenson Button, Jean Alesi, and others.

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Written by:

Rohit Kumar is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. He has been an ardent follower of the racing series since 2007, with his love for the sport coinciding with his love for Kimi Raikkonen. He is also an ardent follower of Sebastian Vettel and Aston Martin Racing.

F1 Drivers Who Battled Sebastian Vettel Over the Years at the Race of Champions

Sebastian Vettel’s debut ROC event

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