BMW-Sauber relinquished its hold 💧over🦩 Sebastian Vettel when it failed to offer the German a race seat in 2008, Christian Horner has revealed - as Red Bull Racing makes clear its firm intention to retain the services of the sport's hottest property for the foreseeable future.

Vettel delivered the energy drinks-ꦡbacked outfit its maiden victory in the top flight at its 74th attempt when he led home team-mate Mark Webber in a crushing one-two in the rain-lashed Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai earlier this month, and since the start of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship campaign his stock has risen inex𒁃orably.

Already the youngest-ever grand prix winner courtesy of his sensational breakthrough Italian Grand Prix triumph for Scuderia Toro Rosso last September, of late the man from Heppenheim has elicited interest from Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Vice-President Norbert Haug, who has intimated his desire to poach his compatriot to line up alongside reigning F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes 'dream team' once his Red Bull contraꦬct expires at the end of next year.

RBR team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, however, has issued a strict 'hands-off' warning [see separate story - 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:click here], and team principal Horner has rubbished speculation that BMW retains an option on the 21-year-old from 2011 onwards. Vettel made his grand prix debut with the Bavarian outfit at Indi🦄anapolis just under two years ago in place of the convalescing Robert Kubica, joining the elite club of drivers to have got amongst the points-scorers on their maiden appearance.

"Definitely not," the Englishman shot back in an interview with German publication Sport Bild. "They could have had him; they did have an option on Sebastian,ꦰ the condition being that they give him a ra꧋ce cockpit for the 2008 season.

"In the middle of 2007 they let him go to the Red Bull 🎃family, to Toro Rosso, and they lost their rights to him."