Vettel plays down prospect of emulating Ayrton Senna's haul of wins in F1 ahead of Chinese GP

Despite standing on the brink of emulating Formula One legend Ayrton Senna's haul of wins, four-time champion Sebastian Vettel has played down the prospect of repeating his shock Malaysian Grand Prix win in Shanghai this weekend.

Vettel recorded a maiden Ferrari triumph at a sweltering Sepang circuit a fortnight ago, which saw him move to 40 career victories and just one shy of the late, great Brazilian Senna's haul of wins.

The triumph also allowed him to follow in the footsteps of German compatriot Michael Schumacher of winning for Ferrari, although Vettel achieved the feat in just his second race for the sport's most successful team, while the seven-time world champion had recorded his first for the team in his seventh race, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Talking about Senna's milestone ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Vettel said that he believes that it's very special. He claimed that it obviously took him a while to get number 40 done and he is hopeful that the next one is not that far away, but he admitted that it would certainly mean a lot for any driver.

Vettel, who is known to take a keen interest in the history of the sport, was tempted away from Red Bull, where he won four consecutive world titles, by the lure of Ferrari and a chance to join Formula One's most prestigious team.

However, Vettel, who grew up idolising Schumacher, admitted that he was not aware he was within touching distance of the benchmark set by Senna, who is considered the sport's most respected driver and passed away following a crash at the Imola circuit in 1994.

Schumacher leads that tally with 91 victories, followed by Senna's rival and four-time world champion Alain Prost on 51, while the Brazilian lies third, the report added.