Vettel jokes amid Webber contract rumours

Amid rumours Mark Webber is close to agreeing a new deal for 2012, Sebastian Vettel cracked a joke in Canada when asked who his ideal Red Bull teammate would be.

The reigning world champion humorously plumped for Dirk Nowitzki, the German basketball player who is seven feet tall and tips the scales well above 100 kilograms.

"He wouldn’t even fit in the car," Vettel laughed to Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "So then I’d have one opponent less."

More seriously, Vettel said his only requirement for a teammate is "respect and honesty", and answered "why not?" if he could imagine sharing a garage with Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso.