Sebastian Vettel is known for having a greater appreciation of F1 history than many of his colleagues, and today the German demonstrated that when he paid tribute to the late Sir Jack Brabham.
He acknowledged that the Australian’s feat of winning the World Championship in his own car was a special one.
“I was fortunate enough to still meet him in person, a couple of years ago at the Australian GP,” he said. “I think he’s one of those drivers who will be remembered for many things, especially the record you mentioned, which I think will last for as long as F1 will last, because there won’t be a driver in the future to win in his own car.
“Times have changed, but I think already back then it was an incredible achievement. I think there are certain records around like that – the other one is probably John Surtees, to win the championship in F1, but also on motorbikes.
“Simply as a fan as the sport it was a great loss, obviously not good news, but on the other hand he was 88 when he passed away, and I hope he enjoyed all of his 88 years on the planet.”
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
SV: “Simply as a fan as the sport…”
That’s where Vettel differs from many of his rivals. How many of the current crop of drivers would sit and watch F1 if they weren’t involved I wonder? The answers some of them give about previous drivers suggest not many of them are really care too much about the sports history. That’s why he was always trying to set the fastest lap, an appreciation of what it actually meant. I’m just glad there are drivers out there who think like fans! That’s also why I suspect Vettel was one of the very few to be scathing about the lack of noise and the double points race before a wheel had even turned in 2014.