Show caption Sebastian Vettel said: ‘If I asked myself: “Who are you?” and I said: “I am an F1 driver.” It would be the wrong answer.’ Photograph: Pixathlon/Rex/Shutterstock Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel: ‘I don’t feel special because of what I do as a job’ The Ferrari driver explains why he likes to mow the lawn and do the school run as he prepares to do battle with Lewis Hamilton in F1’s British Grand Prix on Sunday Giles Richards at Silverstone @giles_richards Thu 5 Jul 2018 22.29 BST Share on Facebook

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Smiling, relaxed and visibly at ease from the moment he sits down, Sebastian Vettel’s demeanour betrays no hint of a driver engaged in a mighty struggle with Lewis Hamilton for the Formula One world championship.

Their rivalry may well become the defining battle of this generation but it clearly does not weigh heavily with Vettel. Just how composed he is could not be better illustrated than when this intensely private man proves happy to talk about his life away from the wheel. Something that perhaps helps define why he has been so successful behind it.

Vettel goes into Sunday’s British Grand Prix one point clear of Hamilton. Both have four world championships apiece. Both want to be the one to equal Juan Manuel Fangio’s tally with a fifth. Their battle, and how it plays out, will be the dominant theme at Silverstone.

It is the second season in a row Vettel has been in a two-horse race with Hamilton and the Ferrari driver understands and revels in the excitement it has generated. “It is something you want, you want to be in close rivalry,” he says. “You want to be in a position so you can fight for victory, that is the ultimate satisfaction, of course it is more intense when it is closer.”

Yet much as this is important to the 31-year-old, he is equally as concerned that behind the intensity, he remains, well, simply, himself. “Obviously F1 is a big part of my life but it is not the most important thing. It is not who I am, it is what I do. They are linked but it is important there is a lot of time where it doesn’t define who I am.”

Clearly this distinction means something to Vettel, who has enjoyed huge success, with four titles for Red Bull between 2010 and 2013. “I don’t feel special because of what I do for a job. It is part of me, my identity but it would be the wrong answer if I asked myself: ‘Who are you?’ and I said: ‘I am an F1 driver.’ I am a lot of other things as well. It doesn’t define me as a person.”

Sebastian Vettel locks up on the way to finishing third at the Austrian Grand Prix in which Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire. Photograph: Pixathlon/Rex/Shutterstock

At which point he opens up further. He has two children and yes they have been to races but only in the grandstands and not in the paddock. He is focused on them seeing him as who he is rather than what he does. It is the tip of the iceberg in his desire not be changed by F1. “I am happy to do things that people think are boring but for me they are not, being at home, mowing the lawn. I cook, not so good, but from time to time. I do the school run, I go shopping, I take the metro and the bus.”

The contrast with Hamilton’s jet-set lifestyle could not be more pronounced but for Vettel pursuing his quiet pleasures seems more important than anything. Visits to the cinema, galleries and museums are all accommodated when possible but he has a blunt appraisal of his fame.

“I am sportsman, I am not celebrity. So when I go somewhere and somebody recognises me I think they are interested in sport and not in how I do my hair, or which shoes I am wearing or that bollocks.”

He and Hamilton are very much contemporaries. Both made their debuts in 2007 and Vettel is only two years younger than Hamilton, but these past two years are the first time they have really gone head to head in equally matched cars. There is nothing to choose between them this season. The lead has changed hands between them five times in the past nine races and doubtless will do again before it is over.

The pair have been open in their oft-repeated mutual respect for one another, and their relationship remains friendly. Their flashpoint in Baku last year when Vettel barged Hamilton has been put behind them. The German now says it was a “reaction” which he concedes was wrong, unnecessary, and which he would not repeat. “I wasn’t intending to hurt him, or end his race, or my race,” he says.

People would be surprised. They have the image that drivers under the helmet are all 'Arggh'. You have to be calm

Vettel has, however, also been accused of too much ambition, leading to errors. This season, his dash at Valtteri Bottas in both Baku and France proved costly as it did on the start in Singapore last year. Yet there is a verve to his driving that can be breathtaking. As it was when he took to the grass to pass Hamilton in Austria. A move similar to his extraordinary overtake on Fernando Alonso round the outside of Curva Grande at Monza in 2011. But he insists he is calm regardless of the situation.

“People would be surprised. They have the image that drivers under the helmet are all ‘Arggh’. You have to be calm in the way you drive because it takes all your concentration. But of course I am excited at times and feel the adrenalin.”

His battle with Hamilton has been fascinating as has been the apparent determination of both drivers to steer away from attempting to score cheap points from one another. It seems this civilised approach is just another facet of Vettel’s determination to keep his real persona intact amid the sound and fury of the sport.

He compliments Hamilton, saying: “he has great talent, he has great skill in the car,” but interestingly declines to be drawn on Hamilton’s strengths or weaknesses, simply unwilling for anything to be misconstrued or interpreted in the wrong way.

For Vettel, this seems perfectly natural, his consideration a fundamental part of maintaining his balance out of the car, ensuring the intensity, the emotion, the focus is there when required behind the wheel.