In less than three years of Grand Prix racing, the impact young Sebastian Vettel has made on the world of F1 has been staggering. From the little-known teenager that replaced Robert Kubica in the 2007 United States Grand Prix, to becoming a world championship challenger in 2009, Vettel's rise to fame has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Unlike most of his peers, Vettel arrived to Formula One without any major single-seater title under his belt. At 17, he won the German Formula BMW championship, but since then has failed to win a single championship. Nevertheless, he was picked up by BMW Sauber to become their third driver in 2006.

Then mid-2007 Vettel was drafted in to replace the injured Robert Kubica at the United States Grand Prix. Despite a poor start that saw him drop from 7th to 11th, Vettel rose back into the points, and at just under 20 years of age, became the sport's first teenage points-scorer, finishing eighth.

While Kubica promptly returned to race action at the following French Grand Prix, Vettel didn't spend long out of an F1 cockpit. With Red Bull ultimately holding the keys to his F1 future, the youngster was promoted to a full-time race seat at Toro Rosso to replace the sacked Scott Speed, relinquishing his lead of the World Series by Renault. Although the STR2 was unable to challenge for points, Vettel nevertheless outqualified team-mate Liuzzi in only his third race. In his fifth race in Japan, Vettel was brought to tears when he crashed into future team-mate Mark Webber behind the safety car, costing them both a probable podium finish. However, Vettel made up for the disappointment with a fourth place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix, confirming his star quality.

Having deservedly kept his seat at Toro Rosso for 2008, Vettel's season began with four consecutive retirements, but as soon as the team had the new STR3 at their disposal for the Monaco Grand Prix, Vettel was immediately scoring points. A superb drive from the back row of the grid saw him finish fifth in the Principality, while eighth place finishes in Canada and Germany added more points to his tally.

After taking sixth and fifth respectively at the European and Belgian Grands Prix, Vettel took full advantage of the rain-soaked Italian Grand Prix at Monza to take a dominant pole position and race victory, becoming the youngest driver in the sport's history to win a Grand Prix. Rounding out the season with a fifth, a sixth and a fourth in the final four races put him an impressive eighth in the championship standings in his first full season of racing.

Vettel's meteoric rise to fame would continue unabated in 2009 as a driver for the main Red Bull Racing team. Like the previous year, Vettel got off to a bad start, and tangled with BMW's Robert Kubica in the closing stages of the season-opener, costing both drivers a certain top-three finish. But he was soon back scoring regular points and podium finishes, beginning with a faultless race to his second career win in China. A few too many strategic errors by Red Bull cost Vettel dear in the forthcoming races, as he lost places in Bahrain, Spain, Monaco and Turkey due to poor calls, ultimately crashing in Monaco after his race fell to pieces.

Once the RB5 was fitted with the infamous double decker diffuser and capable of challenging the all-conquering Brawn, Vettel was right on the pace, and took his second win of the season at Silverstone, driving faultlessly from pole to claim a dominant victory. But his championship challenge soon took a hit, when reliability problems forced him to retired in two successive Grands Prix. An end-of-season spurt saw him notch up two more wins, but it was too little too late, finishing in second place in the championship.

Decade highs:
Fourth place in China 2007 in debut season
Debut victory with Toro Rosso in Italy 2008
Dominating win in Japan 2009

Decade lows:
Crashing out of third place in Japan 2007
Numerous errors in 2009, costing him a shot at the title

2010s?
There's little doubt that Vettel will be a serious championship contender in the coming years, and should Red Bull be able to provide him with a championship-challenging car, expect the German to be winning numerous world titles over the coming decade.