Sebastian Vettel joins Red Bull in F1 in '09.

Worst kept secret for a while! At least now he can concentrate on STR for the rest of the year. Very good choice by Red Bull: as good as Alonso is, in Vettel they have a future world champion, as opposed to a departing one.

Anyone surpirsed by this really hasn't been paying enough attention. Good choice, definitely one of the new generation who will deliver thrilling drives in future.

no suprises here but rbr have a very good talent and if in 09 they produce a good car they could challenge for podiums because both drives are performing brilliantly

Cool. And Webber finally gets a chance to prove his speed against a supposed 'star of the future'.

Vettel is definitely talented and deserves the seat at RBR, but at the moment he's not polished enough to deserve the credit he's getting. In his first year with RBR, being up against Mark will give a far clearer picture of where he's really at.

I agree with RXR - he hasnt done anything special yet

No real surprise there but good luck to the lad. I hope he proves all his doubters wrong.

Looking forward to seeing him in the Red Bull next year which I believe is going to be a great car. He is one of the most exciting propects on the grid for sure...

but "one of the undoubted stars of the season so far"...I would actually go as far as to say he has been one of the biggest disappointments.

Australia Ret
Malaysian Ret
Bahrain Ret
Spanish Ret
Turkish 17
Monaco 5
Canadian 8
French 12
British Ret

Looking forward to seeing him in the Red Bull next year which I believe is going to be a great car. He is one of the most exciting propects on the grid for sure...

but "one of the undoubted stars of the season so far"...I would actually go as far as to say he has been one of the biggest disappointments.

Australia Ret
Malaysian Ret
Bahrain Ret
Spanish Ret
Turkish 17
Monaco 5
Canadian 8
French 12
British Ret



Posted by Kiran Patel - Unregistered (17 minutes ago)

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Are you watching the same races - the final position do not mean THAT much.

the Lad is the Nuts / The Future.

Well we forget - he came as a sub for Kubica and drove for points finish on debut not to forget his sterling drives in tricky conditions in Japan and China last year. He can be excused for Fuji messup, coz LH was partially responsible for the mess for suddenly stopping behind the safety car.
End of the day there is very thin band that separates all the drivers on F1 grid, when it comes to speed. What marks someone better than rest of the field,is ability to develop the car while still delivering on race-day. Vettel has so far not tested on the latter front (rather none of the recent F1 joinees Post Rosberg debut).Kubica I suspect has that skill along with FA of course.

Jon Ellison, I have an old friend by the same name.

I agree with you very much that he is the nuts and given time will be an outstanding driver...but he has crashed at the first corner this season on 4 occasions and has thus been a dissapointment in my eyes, apart from a solid race in Monaco and some gutsy qualifying results.

The only point I am making is that it is rather sensationalist of crash to say he has been one of the stars this year...sorry but he hasn't.

He will be however one of the real stars of the future...he is capable of great things if he stops crashing which I am sure he will eventually.

kiran patel. most of vettels crashes were caused by other drivers and their separate incidents just watch the start of first 4 races then u will see

rbr46. correct, i dont thnk that any of sebs dnf were down to him. his testing and qualifying times in a poor car have shown us how good he is. also he has trounced the other seb so cmprehensively that SB's seat is at risk, and he a champcar st****

rich ard - While the first corner accidents weren't Vettel's fault, you can hardly be considered an "undoubted star of the season" for getting to the end of the front straight quickly. I think he will do just fine at RBR, but he hasn't really been able to show his talent this year, largely due to the fault of other drivers.

Also, "trounced" is hardly the word for a 3 point lead in the driver's championship and a 1 grid slot advantage in qualifying over Bourdais. Especially when you consider that Bourdais would have scored those extra 3 points had his engine not failed 2 laps from the end of the Australian GP.

chu chu are you crying because BMW did not pick me to drive for them? Don't worry my harebrained boy. You'll have a chance to see me in NASCAR where I can be as huge as JPM.

jason, i did not call him an "undoubted star of the season" but i do accept that he is a star in the making. bourdais came in as an experienced driver with a number of champcar titles on his CV. a lot was expected of him but vettel has bettered him on every outing. it is not vettels fault that he has not more points than he has, ( a point that you also acknowledge) in my opinion, his constant bettering over bourdais, at a young age of 21 and with far,far less experience, makes him head and shoulders above bourdais. bourdais's seat is at risk and he has been told "to get his finger out"so others obviously agree with me. look at vettels debut in a bmw last year. that shows class!

Good to hear and I hope he does the business next season. He clearly has alot of talent so hopefully he can demonstrate it more often next season in a more competitive car.

rich ard if you feel that Vettel is better than Bourdais that is fine but you are incorrect that he has bettered him at every outing. Bourdais has outqualified Vettel four times out of nine races. There is still half a season left. It will be interesting to see the reaction if Bourdais comes out ahead of Vettel by the end. And to say that it was not Vettels fault that he was taken out in those races is not entirely true. If he had qualified better he would not have been in a position to be taken out.

did'nt i hear mark webber crying about bloody kids in f1 a while back....well mw i suggest you'll have to pull your finger out against sv....

fast jack - Webber is unique driver in many senses,everybody sympathizes with him for unreliabilities causing so many points loss. Choosing wrong teams and wrong times etc: This would be added to another of his uniqueness, He had similar affair with Ant Pizzonia (anyone remembers him) in Jaguar and then he had to stave him off from getting next car in BMW-Williams in 2005. Pizzonia did drive ultimately when Heidfeld was sidelined due to injury (and wrecked Montoya's race in Spa)

TooGood 2tell, if i'm right, didn't pizzonia wreck webbers race in brazil 2005 before they got to turn 1?

also, vettel and webber partnership will prove a very good one. they are both very fast.