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Gerhard Berger on Stefan Bellof (Foreword in the German biography Stefan Bellof - Eine viel zu kurze Karriere by Rainer Braun, released in 2005) - I took the liberty to translate it since I think it is available in German language only. So I hope it makes sense and ain't too far off:
"Stefan Bellof had everything what it needed to become a great race driver. This is nothing that comes up now after twenty years. It is a clear, timeless picture without sentimentalities that connects me to both the race driver and the human being Stefan Bellof.
His high level was exceptional. In the highest league we met at the Holland GP in Zandvoort 1985. I was in the Arrows, Stefan drove for Tyrrell. Stefan became a hard case for me immediately. He still was pretty young but he almost instantly rose the level. It was tough because one had to play in the same league to not loose the perspectivity in the business. I have had more work from one moment to another but I have had enourmous respect too. Who wanted to beat Stefan had to work hard in practice and race. Stefan was bloody fast and to my personal horror, extremely brave too. At Zandvoort he overtook me in a pretty fast corner on the outside. I didn`t like it at all because it looked so easy.
I didn`t like too that Stefan was constantly in top form. Even in this discipline he rose the level. At the world championship race at Hockenheim 1985, his last sports car race prior to Spa, we were team mates at Brun. Stefan was paired with Boutsen on the Porsche 962. We had an air temperature of 30°C , 60°C in the cockpit and Stefan did a double stint while everyone else including me, managed one stint only.
I honestly believe that Stefan Bellof was the first German big gun prior to Michael Schumacher. But he wasn`t the forerunner for Michael Schumacher. He was and still is a superstar on the same level as Michael Schumacher is. And what I really liked was that Stefan was outstanding too when he wasn`t in the cockpit. As uncompromisingly he was on the circuit, he could be out of the cockpit too. Stefan stood for high spirits and a fun level which was just adorable and borderless. Such people are called charismatic."
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