Vettel at RBR until 2012

[Scott]

I'm glad he re-signed.  I think he would be stupid to leave as long as Newey is designing the cars.  I wonder if he has hired a manager yet or if he is still doing it on his own.  If anyone finds out the $$, it might be interesting to know.  I think he is worth at least $8-10m per year.

From F1 Live.

Rising Red Bull star Sebastian Vettel has agreed a new contract to remain with the team until the end of the 2011 season.

Vettel joined the team from Toro Rosso this year and won the Chinese and British Grand Prix and is currently third in the standings just behind team-mate Mark Webber who also recently penned a new deal with the team.

The agreement with Red Bull Racing also includes an option for 2012 and with many contracts up and down the field coming to an end at the conclusion of 2009, the German racer has now committed his future to the Milton Keynes-based team.

[John S]

That is good news for Seb and I would suggest even better news for Red Bull. I think you may be undervalueing Vettel by a big margin though, I would not be suprised if the figure turns out to be more than double your estimate Scot. He is probably the hottest property on the grid at this time and most major teams would make both the space and a very high bid for him. Drivers salaries may have come down in the last year but the top talent attracts the big money.

[Jericoke]

When Red Bull first got into F1, I wasn't sure how serious they would be.

Of course, Benetton was very serious when they switched from sponsor to owner, so I shouldn't be surprised.

I'm glad to see they've put in the effort they have, and provides a great model for other new teams.  (Hire Adrian Newey... lol)

[Scott]

John, you may be right...if he had four offers in his hand from those guys, Dieter may have had to cough up quite a few more Euro's.

The BBC has claimed that four teams - Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota and Brawn - all made offers to Sebastian Vettel before the German committed to Red Bull.

According to pit-lane reporter Ted Kravtiz, the four teams were willing to reserve a race-seat for Vettel for 2011 before he agreed to extend his deal with Red Bull.

If true, the story would suggest that reports that Ferrari have a binding deal with Fernando Alonso may be premature, that Toyota are still planning a long-term residence in F1 and that, with Rubens Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen set to be dropped at the end of the season, both McLaren and Brawn were willing to appoint one-year seat-fillers for the 2010 campaign alongside Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button respectively.

[John S]

I think Ferd is a definite for Ferrari next year but Massa's contract may be up at the end of 2010, so as this is all about 2011 they were thinking ahead.

McLaren have always liked two strong drivers in their line up and have the deep pockets to fund that and remember Vettal is German so Mercedes would be c*ck-a-hoop. Kovi would have stayed, and still might for another year.

Good point about Toy but they signed the concorde willingly so I think they are staying and it makes sense to try to get a top driver if they ever want to win at least once, if not consistantly. Surely no one expects Trulli to still be at Toy in 2011, but stranger things have happenned.

I still think Brawn will bring in new blood like Paul Di Resta, unless he goes to Macca of course, Brawn need to consolidate and build for the future next year. IMO