Sebastian Vettel says Alberto Ascari record incomparable

Sebastian Vettel said it would be wrong to compare his achievement in winning nine consecutive Formula 1 races with that of Alberto Ascari.

The Red Bull driver won in Brazil to equal Ascari's 60-year-old record and is the first to do it in one season.

"You can't really compare it; it's at a different time," Vettel said.

"In the '50s, the races were much longer and things broke down much more than nowadays, when reliability is exceptional for everyone."

Vettel, who tied up a fourth consecutive title four races ago in India, insisted the Italian's record "still stands out a lot".

He added: "As I see it now, it's just a number but hopefully one day, when I've got less hair and [I am] chubby, then it's probably something nice to look back to."

It is the latest in a series of records Vettel has either equalled or beaten this season as he has won every race since the sport returned from its summer break at the end of August.

He has become the youngest four-time world champion, only the fourth man in history to win four titles and one of only three to win them consecutively.

He has equalled Michael Schumacher's record of 13 wins in a single season and now Ascari's mark of nine consecutive wins, which the late Ferrari driver set over the 1952 and '53 seasons.

Vettel's win in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday was the 39th of his career and he is now only two behind Ayrton Senna, who is third in the all-time winners' list behind Schumacher and Alain Prost.

"It is very, very difficult for me to realise probably now and in the next couple of weeks what we have achieved," Vettel said.

"I'm actually quite sad that this season comes to an end. To win every race is unbelievable. The car has been phenomenal. Just kept getting better."