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F1 Australian GP: Vettel’s champion quality drags Ferrari forward – Clear

New Ferrari engineer Jock Clear says Sebastian Vettel's champion-quality 'shines' whenever he is present and has been critical in hauling the Scuderia back towards the front of the grid since his arrival in 2015.

F1's youngest ever world champion, Vettel notched up four consecutive titles for Red Bull Racing between 2010 and 2013 before leaving to join a struggling Ferrari team in 2015.

Contributing to a fairly swift turnaround for the Italian firm, Vettel won three races with the manufacturer last season and has been tipped as an outside title contender in 2016 despite the largely dominant Mercedes' still expecting to have the car to beat.

For respected engineer Clear, who began work with Ferrari at the start of the year having joined from Mercedes, he says he was expectant of Vettel already from the high regard he was held in by Michael Schumacher, with whom he worked with in 2011 and 2012.

"I knew a little bit about him before. Having worked with Michael [Schumacher] a few years ago, he was a good friend of Michael's and I remember well that Michael spoke very highly of him and we were all working together. So I was excited about this opportunity as I was about working with Kimi, and Seb has been everything I was expecting of him.

Indeed, Clear says that Vettel's invaluable attention to detail in everything he does 'brings the best out of Ferrari' and 'drags the team forward'

"He is a four-time world champion and that shines through whenever you see him in the garage, in the car, or in the factory, or in the simulator. He knows how to bring the best out of people. He knows how to drag the team forward. He knows how to communicate and those aspects of being an F1 racing driver are so critical to the modern F1 team driving forward.

"It is a team effort and they do carry a huge responsibility of motivation and direction, and I know that Seb understands that. You can see that what be bring to the part is just invaluable and that is what singles out the world champions from the other guys in the pit lane. They just know how it works and Seb has all of that and more." 

Zdroj: crash.net