Red Bull is sure Vettel is not tempted to leave F1 team

With Vettel having clinched his fourth successive world championship title, it has been suggested that the German may have to seek fresh motivation somewhere else, just as Michael Schumacher did when he left Benetton and joined Ferrari for 1996.

But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and its technical chief Adrian Newey think that Vettel operates with a different mindset, and has total loyalty to his current team.

Horner said: "I think every driver in the pitlane would like to be in our cars at the moment.

"Sebastian enjoys driving for the team, he has grown up within the team, and he is very much part of the team - why would he want to be anywhere else?

"He has had all of his success in cars designed in Milton Keynes, he has been a member of the Red Bull junior programme, and Dietrich Mateschitz has backed him since he was 13/14 years of age.

"Of course there is no guarantee, but it is not about contracts or anything like that.

"It is about relationships, total trust by Sebastian in the team, and total trust in Sebastian by the team."

When asked if he felt there could come a time when Vettel might want the challenge of driving for another team, Newey said: "Quite possibly. But equally Sebastian I know is very aware of statistics, and he is very interested in the history of the sport.

"He enjoys the atmosphere we have at Red Bull. We have managed to create a very honest sporting team, and we don't pretend to be anything we are not.

"We are an F1 team operating out of fairly scruffy factory units in Milton Keynes, and nothing glamorous.

"We just try to keep our feet on the ground, we have a good creative atmosphere in the team, and we work hard.

"I think Seb appreciates that and hopefully all my colleagues at the team appreciate that.

"These four championships are more than anything the result of the hard work and creativity and talent of everyone at Milton Keynes."