Irvine knocks out Vettel: a “vastly overrated” driver

Eddie Irvine has never been one to mince his words. The Northern Irishman, winner of four Grands Prix for Ferrari and vice-world champion in 1999, did not fail in his reputation by bringing out the heavy artillery during an interview with his country's BBC.

In his viewfinder: Sebastian Vettel. Regarding the quadruple world champion, who is chasing a 5th world title since 2013 and coming out of a season where he accumulated mistakes, Irvine doesn't hold back.

« I think Vettel is good when he is in front and doesn't have to face anyone, praises the man whose Grand Prix career spanned from 1993 to 2002. If you look at Lewis (Hamilton, Editor’s note), you can see that he is 100% focused on racing and gaining positions.

When Vettel finds himself in a fight with another driver, he seems to be mainly concerned about his competitor and it inevitably ends in a collision.

I think Vettel is a good driver but I'm not sure he deserves to be four times world champion. I think he's way overrated, he only knows how to do one thing. Lewis has a much deeper talent. »

If Hamilton finds favor in front of Irvine, the 53-year-old retiree judges the five-time world champion with 73 victories still far from Michael Schumacher, his former teammate at Ferrari from 1996 to 1999.

« Lewis plays in a different league compared to the others, adds Irvine before qualifying his remarks. He's not at Michael's level, he's not even close, no matter how many wins he has. He has the best car and there are more races per season these days. As for the competition, its level of performance is questionable.

Michael was on top every day, like Senna, while Lewis can experience slumps. If you look at the two seasons that Lewis and Jenson Button were together, Button finished ahead in the championship on both occasions (the collaboration actually lasted three seasons, at McLaren from 2010 to 2012, and Button only finished ahead of Hamilton in 2011, Editor's note), . No one has ever done this to Michael. His performance level was consistently higher ».

We don't know if Irvine's memory is playing tricks on him or if the former Jordan, Ferrari, and Jaguar driver is showing a bit of bad faith but it's difficult to talk about sparkling competition during the age of Ferrari-Schumacher gold in the early 2000s. As for the comparison with his teammates, the seven-time world champion has never had to contend with another crowned driver in the car next to him.