The focus may have been on Hamilton's battle for glory with Felipe Massa during the tense closing months, but the spotlight was never too far away from Vettel.

It is not too harsh a comment to suggest Vettel looks nothing like a racing driver as his baby-faced features give him the appearance of a university student or bookish accountant.

But his aptitude behind the wheel has been apparent since an early age, never more so in 2004 when he won a remarkable 18 of 20 races in Formula BMW.

That earmarked him as a man who had a bright future ahead, and it came as no surprise when he tested for both Williams and BMW Sauber towards the back end of 2005.

It was the German outfit who were quicker to spot his potential and a year later he was officially appointed as their test driver.

When Vettel took part in Friday practice for the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, he became the youngest to drive in an F1 meeting, aged a mere 19 years and 53 days, since when records have continued to fall his way.

On his race debut at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, replacing Robert Kubica following the Pole's horror shunt in Canada the week previously, Vettel became the youngest to score a Formula One point just 16 days short of his 20th birthday.

He then became the youngest to lead a grand prix in that season's race in Japan, only to end it in floods of tears after running into the back of Mark Webber as they toured behind a safety car.

That was his fifth race for Toro Rosso as the Faenza-based squad had swooped to sign him mid-season after dispensing with American Scott Speed.

Heading into this year, though, no-one ideally expected Vettel or Toro Rosso to pull up any trees, not in comparison to sister team Red Bull, seemingly supported by a much bigger budget courtesy of billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

When Vettel retired in the first four grands prix, a long, hard season of struggle appeared to be on the horizon, punctuated by the odd glimmer of hope.

A fifth place on a damp track in Monaco was Vettel's highlight until the most astonishing race in wet conditions in Italy took place.

When Vettel took pole position, again claiming another age record, no-one honestly expected him to follow up with victory.

But he did just that, showing maturity and composure beyond his years as chaos unfolded behind him, and despite the efforts of the title protagonists in the big-budget machinery to claw their way to the front.

At the age of 21 years and 74 days, Vettel can now proudly claim to be the youngest winner of a grand prix, leaving just the one record still to claim - that of youngest world champion.

In the closing seven races he accumulated 29 points - only Massa, Fernando Alonso and Hamilton won more - to finish in eighth place overall in the drivers' standings.

Vettel will not be world champion this year, of course, because he has switched to Red Bull, where he should comfortably outperform Webber.

As to how Red Bull fare in comparison to the other teams? Much will depend on how swiftly they adapt to the raft of new rules that come into force for 2009.

Vettel, though, has already proven in the space of 25 grands prix with a team that has previously been ranked as 'back of the grid' that he knows how to extract the maximum from the car.

One of the big boys will surely come knocking at the end of next year, and then that will give him the chance in 2010 of scalping Hamilton as youngest world champion.