Webber: Vettel a real coup for Red Bull

Vettel was confirmed as a 2009 Red Bull Racing driver at Hockenheim on Thursday, having been linked with the seat for several months.

And although Webber has a reputation for giving his teammates a hard time, the Australian admits that he is relishing the chance to go up against the young German.

"There are not many quick youngsters around with experience at the moment," Webber told autosport.com. "So it's a real coup for Red Bull. He is the first real Red Bull-backed driver to come through their junior programme to have the talent to back the cash."

Webber thinks Vettel will provide another good yardstick for him to judge himself against, although thinks outside comparisons will invariably be wrong.

"If he blows me away people will say Webber's past it, but if I blow him away then people will say Vettel's not quick. That's normal. I had that with (Nico) Rosberg.

"I'm more than comfortable with what I have done since I have been in Formula One. It's nice to have that qualifying reputation, but it would be nice to drill that this year with some solid race results.

"Obviously Silverstone didn't go my way, but even in the first stint I carved my way back up there, and we have finished every race this year."

Red Bull Racing have shown good progress with their car this year but Webber is urging caution in not letting expectations get too carried away after his front-row qualifying performance in Silverstone.

"We have good momentum. A one-off qualifying session just popped us up there and everyone's expectations just go to an unrealistic level.

"It was a windy afternoon and a lot of other people underperformed in other cars. I managed to get a lap in that worked for me on the day.

"No, we are not on McLaren and Ferrari pace; we are not even BMW pace. We are still where we were, but we have consistently been a good team at every Grand Prix this year and we will continue to do that at least."