Vettel replaced Scott Speed at Toro Rosso after the European Grand Prix for the remainder of the 2007 season, as part of the Red Bull Junior Team.

Vettel was promoted to parent team Red Bull in 2009, taking several wins as he finished runner-up to Jenson Button in the World Drivers' Championship.

After a winless 2014 campaign, Vettel signed for Ferrari, replacing Alonso to partner Kimi Räikkönen; he took several wins in his debut season, finishing third in the standings.

[24] In the rain-affected Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji, Vettel worked his way up to third, behind Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber, and seemed to be on course for his and the team's maiden podium finish.

[25] Vettel was initially punished with a ten-place grid penalty for the following race, but this was lifted after a spectator video on YouTube showed the incident may have been caused by Hamilton's behaviour behind the safety car.

[27][28] He was tipped by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz as one of the sport's big future stars: "Vettel is one of the young guys with extraordinary potential [...] He is fast, he is intelligent, and he is very interested in the technical side.

Toro Rosso's technical director Giorgio Ascanelli explained that something changed at the European Grand Prix in Valencia: "Suddenly Vettel understood something about how to drive an F1 car quickly.

[41] Vettel won the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the first ever day-night race, to finish second in the World Drivers' Championship standings behind Jenson Button.

[8] At the inaugural Korean Grand Prix, Vettel led the first 45 laps before retiring with engine failure, handing victory to championship rival Fernando Alonso.

[55] Vettel started the 2011 season with wins in Australia and Malaysia, before a second-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix due to poor tyre management, possibly related to his inability to properly communicate with his team, as his radio was broken.

[82] During qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Vettel was told to stop the car due to a fuel pump issue; he was forced to start from the pit lane.

[87] Vettel started the first two races of the 2013 season on pole position, and at the Malaysian Grand Prix, he lapped over 2.5 seconds faster than teammate Webber in qualifying during a wet session.

[92] He sealed his fourth world title at the Indian Grand Prix;[93] before the race weekend, Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone stated that Vettel was "probably the best [driver] we've ever had".

[101] In October, Red Bull had announced that Vettel would be leaving the team at the end of the season to join Scuderia Ferrari, one year before his contract was due to expire.

Vettel took full responsibility, issuing a public apology and committing to devote personal time over the next 12 months to educational activities across a variety of FIA championships and events.

[134] Mercedes dominated after the summer break and Vettel lost the championship lead at the Italian Grand Prix,[135] which was followed by a first-lap retirement in Singapore after collision with Räikkönen and Verstappen.

[144] In Bahrain, Vettel maintained the lead from pole through the first round of pit stops and held off Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas despite being on old soft tyres to take a fourth victory at the circuit.

[153] Contact on the opening lap with Hamilton in Italy saw Vettel damage his front wing and drop to the back of the field, but he recovered to cross the finishing line in fourth place.

After showing impressive pace throughout pre-season testing in Barcelona, Vettel and his new teammate Charles Leclerc headed to Australia with many pundits believing they had the car to beat for the 2019 season.

[171] After running in third at the Brazilian Grand Prix for the majority of the race, a safety car allowed Red Bull's Alexander Albon and an aggressive Leclerc to overtake him.

[179] Ferrari only finished sixth in the Constructors' standings, their worst result since 1980, while Vettel's total of 33 points was the lowest in a full campaign in his Formula One career.

[183] Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer reported no concerns, owing to this being a very different car from the Ferrari, lack of laps in pre-season testing and a very impressive race start.

[189] Vettel missed the first two races of the 2022 season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia after testing positive for COVID-19; he was substituted by Aston Martin's reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg.

[195] In 2011, Pirelli director Paul Hembery was impressed when Vettel was the only driver to take the time to visit the factory and talk to the tyre manufacturer to gain a better insight.

New to Vettel's helmet at the start of 2008 was the incorporation of the red cross shape of the Kreis Bergstraße coat of arms on the front, just underneath the visor, in honour of the region of his birthplace, Heppenheim.

[209] The RB6 in 2010 was Vettel's first championship-winning car, at first called Luscious Liz before a chassis change saw its renaming to Randy Mandy from the Turkish Grand Prix onwards.

[229] Vettel competed in the 2007 Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium, representing the German team alongside Michael Schumacher,[230] winning the Nations' Cup title.

[9] In 2017, Vettel was eliminated in the first heat for the individual competition,[233] but went on to win the Nations' Cup for Germany by himself with his seventh victory,[234] after his teammate Pascal Wehrlein was injured earlier in a crash.

[246] In May 2022, Vettel appeared on the BBC One political topical debate programme Question Time to discuss a variety of issues including climate change, energy dependency, and Brexit.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called it "over-the-top hypocrisy" because Vettel's team, Aston Martin, is sponsored by petroleum company Saudi Aramco, which he said has "one of the worst climate-emissions records in the world".