Ecclestone thrilled with Vettel's success

"He's only 21 years of age but I genuinely think he's...got all the hallmarks of somebody with a very, very bright future," said Horner. "The thing that's most impressive about him is...how calm he is," added the Briton. "He seems to have an extra capacity when he's driving the car to be able to process information. "He wants a lot of information, (in China) he wanted to know where cars were going off, where they were struggling, whereas most guys in the wet are fully focused on what they are doing. "He's very acutely aware of what he needs from the car to go quicker and what is a 'nice to have'," added Horner. "He's got tremendous car control, and seems to be very at ease and in a Hamilton-type way to drive the car right on the edge." Schumacher also had that innate ability, able to analyse and dissect everything going on around him while shutting out distractions. After making his debut with Benetton, and winning two titles with that team, Schumacher moved to Ferrari -- a team with whom Vettel has already inevitably been linked. With Ferrari yet to score a point this season, and Red Bull on the rise, Horner saw no reason for concern. "We've got a relationship with Sebastian that goes further than this year, he's in a car and team that he's performing with so why change? Where would he want to go to?," he asked. "Everything in our team is really coming together. I think the foundations that we've put in place, the people that we've brought together over the last 12 months, have really started to bear fruit." Ecclestone rang Vettel after the race in Shanghai to offer his congratulations, a call that the jubilant driver almost ignored. "I had someone calling with a private number and I wasn't very keen to pick up the phone," Vettel said. "But I did and it was Bernie, so I was very happy. He said I did a good job." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by John Mehaffey; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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