Sebastian Vettel hailed his teams performance this season after he secured his second consecutive title, making him the youngest ever to do so.
He believes the team is now in a different league to what it was in 2010 when he took his maiden championship.
“The level the team is currently at is incredible,” he said at a press conference in Japan on Monday. “Looking at last year and this year, it’s the same people but we have raised our level and everyone has become much more mature.
The 24-year-old expressed gratitude to his fans and said he often has to pinch himself as the reality of doing something he loves, 19 weekends in a year, would be hard to better.
“People around you, speaking highly of you… I don’t really like it. I think it depends on the person you are, but sometimes you have to pinch yourself and I’m a normal person, I love what I do and I’m very fortunate to do something which so many people around the world follow.
“To be able to experience that 19 times a season… a day like yesterday – the sun was shining, we had so many enthusiastic fans in the grandstands and, the moment just before I put my helmet on, I looked down to Turns 1 and 2 and saw this massive grandstand full of people, and you think at that moment, ‘Life doesn’t get much better than this’.
“It’s hard to beat that, so I think you have to enjoy it as well. Of course it’s hard work behind the scenes, and much more than people think and sometimes people obviously just can’t see that, but you have to enjoy it.”
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