Sebastian Vettel became the youngest-ever Formula One World Champion when he clinched the crown at the final hurdle in 2010.
He started as BMW's test driver from the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix onwards and made his Formula One race debut when he drove for the German team at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel was called upon to stand in for the injured Robert Kubica.
That race weekend saw Vettel set a few F1 records when he became the sixth youngest driver to start a grand prix and the youngest driver to score points in a World Championship point. He finished the race in eighth place.
Vettel returned to his role at test driver the next day for BMW, however, it wasn't long before he was back racing after signing a deal with the Scuderia Toro Rosso outfit to replace Scott Speed.
The German driver made his STR debut on the 2007 Hungarian GP and almost scored Toro Rosso's first podium finish at the Japanese GP in September. However a crash with Mark Webber brought an end to that dream.
He did, however, redeem himself one race later when he claimed fourth place at the Chinese GP - earning Toro Rosso their best result ever.
Vettel remained with Toro Rosso in 2008 where he partnered ChampCar Champion Sebastien Bourdais, although it was his team-mate who had the better results in the opening stint, it was Vettel who came to the fore with the introduction of the STR3.
The German soon began putting in results many predicted were beyond the car's capabilities, including pole position and the victory at a wet Italian Grand Prix.
It was a moment that sealed Vettel's description as a future F1 World Champion and landed him a Red Bull race-seat for the 2009 Championship.
Vettel backed up Red Bull's faith in him with an impressive run in 2009, bagging four race victories as he fought Jenson Button tooth and nail for the World title.
However, the fact that Red Bull's start to the Championship was not as dynamic as Brawn GP's, nor where their Renault engines are reliable as Mercedes's, meant Vettel came up short, losing the title to Button at the penultimate race of the season in Brazil.
The German, though, showed his tenacious side, highlighting that a World title is just around the corner, when he came back from the disappointment to win the season-ending Abu Dhabi race.
2010 began with a great deal of promise as Vettel's RB demonstrated an impressive turn of pace. But it also demonstrated impressive fragility with Vettel being robbed of the race win in Bahrain and Australia. The team, though, worked on their issues and Vettel finally took to the top step of the podium in Malaysia.
However, on-track issues weren't the only complaint of 2010 as the team had to suffer through several moments of in-fighting with Webber bemoaning the team's alleged favouritism to Vettel. The problem wasn't helped by the duo crashing into each other in Turkey while fighting for the win.
But when they got it right they got it right. The Bulls were heads and shoulders above their rivals in qualifying however on race day their rivals, McLaren and Ferrari, often fought back. The end result was a four-way title fight going into the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Vettel, third in the standings behind Fernando Alonso and his team-mate Mark Webber, did all he could to take the title, claiming pole position and the race win. His own performance coupled with pit strategy errors from Ferrari and on Webber's side of the pit wall saw Vettel crowned F1's youngest ever World Champion.
With experience, confidence and hopefully a bit more caution to his name, many are already predicting double glory for Vettel in 2011.
