MOTOR SPORT FORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP: A GERMAN driver in an Italian car winning at Monza. That combination dominated Formula One for almost 10 year and yesterday at Monza, Sebastian Vettel signalled that the days of Michael Schumacher triumphing in Italian machinery could return as he steered his Ferrari-powered Scuderia Toro Rosso car to a stunning maiden victory at the Italian Grand Prix.

At just 21 years old Vettel, who led from lights to flag in sodden conditions, became the youngest winner in Formula One history and brought tiny Toro Rosso, the team born as Minardi in 1985 and rescued from the brink of collapse by Red Bull in 2005, its first win.

The German, who spent his youth karting at the Schumacher family track in the town of Kerpen, went into the race from pole, a place normally reserved for perennial front runners. But in a Saturday qualifying session as wet as race day, Vettel powered through to claim the premier slot.

It was a remarkable performance and one earned entirely on merit. Small teams at the front of the grid usually come in changeable weather, when a lap scored in the dry propels a driver to the top as rain destroys later chances of toppling that time.

With the qualifying hour divided into three sessions and times reset at the end of each session, Vettel's table-topping times in the final two sessions were real and a warning to the major powers the youngster would figure in the race, especially with the championship leaders failing to capitalise.

Title leader Hamilton was languishing in 15th, one ahead of Raikkonen. Felipe Massa, the closest on points to Hamilton, was sixth. Only McLaren's second driver, Heikki Kovalainen, managed to keep pace with Vettel, slotting into second for the start and tipped to brush aside the Toro Rosso driver when the lights went out.

But with rain falling steadily and the start conducted behind the safety car, Kovalainen was given no chance by Vettel. When the safety car left the track two laps, in the German timed his run to the first corner perfectly, leaving Kovalainen in his wake and building up a 10-second lead as the rain continued to fall.

After that it was all about what would happen behind him. And the driver on the move was Hamilton, who was scything through the field, dismissing Raikkonen early and brushing past rivals with barely a second glance. Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld were dispatched as the rain abated somewhat.

After Vettel's first stop, Hamilton, on a single stop, closed to within a second of the youngster and the complexion of the race looked like changing. But Hamilton had taken on extreme wet tyres in anticipation of more rain and when it didn't arrive, he began to drop back. Vettel stopped once more as the track dried, took on standard wet tyres and powered away, establishing a 14-second lead over Kovalainen, who had regained second.

With his tyres no longer functioning well, Hamilton had to make another stop for wets and clawed his way to seventh, behind Massa. The gap at the top of the title table narrows to a point with Hamilton ahead, but it mattered little; all eyes were on the winner.

"Unbelievable," said an elated Vettel afterwards. "The whole race we had no problems, the car was working really fine. I had a fantastic race, a really good strategy but all that was gone when I crossed the chequered flag, and the lap back to the pits, all the podium ceremony, was unbelievable. This is the best day of my life, these emotions I will never forget. It is so much better than you might think it is. It is fantastic."

Vettel admitted starting from pole was crucial, as visibility was very poor during the first part.

"Being first and having no visibility problems was the key," he added. "I could make a good, solid gap to Heikki straight away and then I was pushing very hard, sometimes I went over the limit and it got hard.

"I think it got more tricky in the middle of the race as there was no standing water any more. People were going left and right to cool down the tyres; it was very, very slippery, in the last stint."

The young German was joined on the podium by Kovalainen and Kubica, with Fernando Alonso fourth ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Massa and Hamilton.

Vettel's victory was one of stunning maturity and precision. Under the guidance of team principal Franz Tost and technical director Giorgio Ascanelli Toro Rosso have been threatening for a while but while Vettel finished as high as fourth last year in China and last weekend claimed fifth, a win has always looked a bridge too far for a team with a fifth of the workforce of the major manufacturers and a fraction of the budget.

Points yes, but a win, for a team run out of an industrial estate in the sleep town of Faenza in middle Italy? No chance.

But Vettel looks like something special. In his native Germany he has been saddled with the nickname "Baby Schumi" since he first made his mark as a test driver for BMW Sauber in 2006. Last June, he was given his first opportunity to shine, inheriting the BMW of Robert Kubica at the US Grand Prix after the Pole was ruled unfit following a smash in Canada in the week before. Vettel didn't need to be asked twice. In his debut race, on the cusp of turning 20, he finished seventh and in the points.

Michael Schumacher, watching from the Ferrari pitwall yesterday, must have enjoyed it hugely. A German in a Ferrari winning at Monza. We've been here before.