Red Bull boss says Vettel will return in '09
5/9/2007 10:10:40 AM
Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz says the team will consider hiring or promoting one of its younger drivers to partner one of their veterans in 2008.
However, the energy drink billionaire has ruled out an early return to the Red Bull stable for German Sebastian Vettel, whom rival BMW hope to elevate to full-time status possibly as early as next year.
"I am not bothered by that," Mateschitz tells the publication Motorsport Aktuell. "We have parked him for four years at BMW. We say he is our driver. BMW, however says, he is their driver. But there are contracts in place, and if we perform, he will be back with us in 2009."
As for next season, 36 year old David Coulthard would seem to be the odd-man out as his contract is for 2007, with a likely option. Aussie Mark Webber joined the team this year and is six years younger than Coulthard.
Mateschitz says both Toro Rosso drivers Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi are options but both still need to prove their worth if they wish to remain within the Red Bull organization beyond this season.
Mateschitz adds he would like to hire a "star" driver but will only do so when he feels the team is capable of winning consistently.
"A star driver longs for such a (winning) car and first we have to prove that we have the means to build such a car. Then you can start to talk with top drivers.
"We never daydreamed of having a top name such as Michael Schumacher in the car in 2007. He would have had to cut back his salary by 90 percent!
"At the point where we were, Mark Webber was ideal for us."
Despite failing to score a point through the first three races of the season, the Austrian believes they are already ahead of two-time world champions Renault and has set his sights on BMW-Sauber.
"The Red Bull Racing cars were lying seventh and eighth in the Bahrain race, so we have overtaken Renault, Williams and Toyota," he tells the motorsport publication. "But it would be foolish to talk about Ferrari or McLaren-Mercedes as possible opponents in the first proper year.
"BMW Sauber has made a solid step ahead, but I would say that they have to be our goal for this year. But as I stated one year ago: the real goal is to finish fifth in the constructors' championship this year. And according to the latest progress in Barcelona and a further evolution step in Canada I would say that this is entirely possible.
Mateschitz says problems related to calibrating the teams new wind tunnel pushed the team's development "in the wrong direction". However, he feels designer Adrian Newey and his staff have begun to reverse the problems and we should see a definite improvement in results going forward.