Following his outstanding debut with the team during Friday free practice, BMW Sauber have confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will retain the third seat in the team for the remaining three rounds of the 2006 season.

Topping the timesheets on his maiden two outings at Istanbul and Monza, 19-year-old Vettel's participation in the third seat was set to come down to whether he could afford to divert attention from his commitments in the Formula Three Euro Series, where he currently lies second.

Nonetheless, Vettel is delighted to have been given further opportunity to shine, starting with China, moving onto Japan and the season finale in Brazil.

Still, while he admits to having preconceptions about China, he is unsure about what to expect from the Shanghai circuit itself.

“The circuit is a new one and looks quite tricky,” the German said. “I have seen a lot of drivers on television making a lot of mistakes. There's a high-speed straight, another straight and a hairpin corner. It will be difficult to find the right braking point. I'm looking forward to gaining a lot of new experiences in China.”

“When I think of China I think of small people, the Great Wall, cheap electronics, a foreign
language, foreign culture and writing which leaves me totally blank,” he joked. “I've only been to Hong Kong and Macau before. In Hong Kong there are sometimes some unusual smells in the air, but it was nice to see the city.

“There is a Walk of Fame like the one in Hollywood, with hand-prints from people like Jackie Chan, and that was fun. Macau is one of my favourite tracks, but I.ve not yet seen anything of this huge country where so many people live. It would be nice to see beyond the cities.”

Vettel, who has been linked to several GP2 teams as well as resuming his third seat role with BMW Sauber in 2007 since he burst onto the international scene in Turkey, is currently competing for ASM in rounds 15 and 16 of the Euro Series at Barcelona, Spain.