2009 Formula One World Championship joined Brawn as a test driver. Force India joined Brawn GP in using the Mercedes engines by signing a five-year deal until 2013, having ended their previous supply contract from Ferrari. The retirement of Red Bull Racing driver David Coulthard led to the appointment of Sebastian Vettel as his replacement, who left the Scuderia Toro Rosso team after a successful previous season including winning the Italian Grand Prix. Toro Rosso, a team designed to develop new Formula One drivers, saw co-owner Gerhard Berger sell his half-stake back to Red Bull, claiming that the new regulations would "leave no room for
Sebastian Vettel year 2010, he was voted German Sportspersonality of the Year (Sportler des Jahres). In the same year, he won the International Racing Driver category at the Autosport Awards for the first time, and has since won this award for three successive years (2010–2013). In January 2012, Vettel was honoured with the illustrious for being the "Double consecutive F1 World Champion at the age of twenty four – winner of eleven Grands Prix out of nineteen", and in the following month, he was further honoured with the highest sports award in Germany, the "Silberne Lorbeerblatt" – Silver Laurel Leaf – in