Sebastian Vettel hails Fernando Alonso as one of the greatest F1 talents on his birthday

Sebastian Vettel hailed longtime rival Fernando Alonso as one of the best drivers to have ever graced the sport after the Alpine driver turned 40 on 29th July. Vettel and Alonso were fierce rivals from 2010 to 2013 when the two drivers fought hard for the Drivers' Championships. Even though the German beat the Spaniard in each of those seasons, he hails him as one of the greatest of all time for accomplishing the "impossible" task of beating Michael Schumacher.

Sebastian Vettel hails Fernando Alonso as one of the best

While attending Thursday's Hungarian Grand Prix press conference, current Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel spoke of Fernando Alonso's amazing talent and his achievement of beating his childhood hero, Michael Schumacher. Vettel said, "He won here in 2003 [and] I was in front of the TV and I remember when he won. I think his talent is without doubt, the skills on track one of the biggest that the sport has seen, and he's done something which I thought was impossible to do, which is beating Michael, because when I grew up, it was like, Michael is the number one and impossible to beat – and Fernando started beating him.

Fernando Alonso: Age is just a number as he celebrates 40th birthday

It has been eighteen years since Fernando Alonso won his maiden F1 race at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, and he continues to deliver impressive performances even at the age of 40. While celebrating his 40th birthday, Alonso was asked during Thursday's press conference about how he felt. Alonso replied, "I feel not 40 for sure. It's the number, but it's surprising me as well when I see it, when I see everywhere in the motorhome, because the team prepared a very nice decoration in my room and in the lunch area as well. It's a bigger number than what I feel, but it's the way it is."

However, the Spanish legend did admit he had never imagined that he would still be racing at the age of 40. "No, probably not. You live only the present, you're not thinking too much about the future at that age and you're just focused on the race weekend. You can't imagine yourself more than two or three years in time from that moment," added Alonso.