Both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel at this point in time are track veterans when it comes to the current F1 standard. With most of the drivers below the age of 25, Alonso and Vettel are among the most experienced in the sport right now, with the Spaniard having his debut in 2001 and the German in 2007. Between 2010 and 2013, Fernando Alonso was always a runner up to the title-winning Vettel, when the latter was scoring his World Championship titles with Red Bull Racing. 

After returning from his 2-years-long F1 hiatus, Alonso finds himself fighting with Vettel again, although not in such positions like they did “back in the day” - they’re currently 11th and 12th in the drivers standings. 

In a recent interview, Alonso spoke about the current relationship he has with Vettel on track and the amount of respect he has for him as a driver.

As he said: "Honestly, there is a lot of respect between us. We have fought hard sometimes on track and we’ve fought for some championships as well. 

"All of those were on Seb’s side, from 2010 to 13, but still, I think, we show this respect when we meet each other on track.

"It’s not only what you see on Sundays, there are lot of things that are happening on Fridays and Saturdays and I consider it a privilege to share the track with most of the guys here in F1, but especially with guys like Seb.”

Alonso believes that after their close fights in the early 2010s, their names will be forever in the F1 history books, and they will always go together in one way or another. As he said: "It is something that will come with me, or with us, forever. There are some names that go alongside your career and Seb will be one of those.”

In an interview conducted around the time of Alonso’s 40th Birthday, Vettel said nothing but praise for the Spaniard as well. As said by Sebastian: “I always enjoy [racing] Fernando. (…) 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. I think that's an achievement and obviously he's had such a long career, so many different cars, so I consider it a pleasure to race beside him and fight him on the track.”