But beneath that apparently relaxed youthful exterior lies steely determination, great racecraft and incredible car control. It all seems to come easy to the man who became F1’s youngest-ever pole-sitter and then race winner in Monza last year.

Sebastian Vettel wrote himself a small line in the F1 history books at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix where, as a ‘Friday Only’ driver for the BMW-Sauber team, he became the youngest competitor to take part in a grand prix weekend at just 19years of age. And, on that first day in the spotlight, he set the quickest time on what experts reckon to be one of the most demanding tracks on the calendar.

Vettel has been part of the Red Bull family for several years now and the talent-spotters seem to have got it right with the cool kid from Heppenheim in Germany. His outwardly relaxed manner hides a sharp mind and a keen will to win, something he did a lot of on the nursery slopes of Formula BMW. How does 18 wins from 20 race starts sound? Or 15 pole positions, 16 fastest race laps and 387 points scored out of a possible maximum of 400? His F1 race debut came at the USA GP in 2007, deputizing for the injured Robert Kubica. He came home eighth. His full-time career began later that year, when he first donned the Toro Rosso race suit in Hungary. His highlight of that first season was a fourth place in China, which made up for the disappointmentand controversy of his collision with future team-mate MarkWebber a week earlier in Fuji, when both men seemed to be heading for the podium.

2008 did not start well, with Sebastian only completing a total of 39 laps in the first four grands prix, but then came that historic Monza victory and promotion to the senior Red Bull team for this year. And 2009? "My target is to win the world championship as soon as possible and moving to Red Bull Racing is a step in the right direction."