The current Ferrari driver, who previously drove for Red Bull until last year, and looked up to 48-year-old before joining the elite F1 drivers himself, spoke about Schumacher at the Race of Champions.
While the pair remained friends with the seven-time champion giving advice to the then up-and-coming youngster, they did manage to race against one another in F1 when the older German driver came out of retirement in 2010.
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Michael Schumacher (left) with Sebastian Vettel in 2012
The two Germans had first met when Vettel was starting out on his career, making his mark on the go-karting scene while Schumacher was already a world champion in F1.
The pair also partnered each other as part of Team Germany in the exhibition series Race of Champions (ROC), which saw the German pair dominate the event, winning it six years in a row between 2007 and 2012.
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Tragedy struck Schumacher though in 2013 when he suffered a horrific skiing accident in the Alps which left him in a coma.
Vettel, 29, won his seventh ROC title this year, effectively winning it single-handedly after his teammate Pascal Wehrlein retired after a crash.
Michael Schumacher in pictures
Thu, February 4, 2016
Seven time F1 World Champion, Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest to have driven a racing car. Schumacher still remains critical after he suffered severe head injuries in a ski accident in 2013.
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Michael Schumacher presents the new Ferrari F310 in 1996
Speaking after the event in Miami, Vettel said: "We started this journey together, he was helping me out most the time in the beginning, and I was able to learn a lot from him.
"We would have loved to have him here, and our thoughts are with him.
"We wish him still all the best, even though it has been a couple of years."
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Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher in 2012
He added: "We all miss him. Not just me for Team Germany, but all the drivers.
"He is always good company. Very difficult to beat on track, very difficult to beat off track.
"But luckily I was smart enough to pay attention when he was teaching lessons."
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Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel chat at the Race of Champions
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Michael Schumacher driving for Ferrari in 2008
The exact situation with Schumacher is uncertain with his family not giving updates regarding the state of his progress or health and his management team have stated the issue is “not a public matter” in the past.
In September last year though Schumacher’s lawyer Felix Damm told a German court that his client “cannot walk” after false reports emerged in the German publication Die Bunte saying that he could “walk a couple of steps”.
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