In tough conditions, Vettel followed his debut pole with a maiden race win, crossing the line by sinking his head into his hands as he perhaps could not believe what has been an astonishing weekend.

Aged just 21 years and 74 days, and in only his 22nd grand prix for the Toro Rosso team, Vettel beat the previous record set by Fernando Alonso at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2003 by almost a year.

Behind the young hero, the title contenders endured a frantic race, with Felipe Massa sixth in his Ferrari and drivers' leader Lewis Hamilton seventh for McLaren, with the gap now just one point between the duo.

A thrilled Vettel said over the team radio: "I can't believe it. I am lost for words. It is amazing."

Robert Kubica is now just 14 points behind Hamilton after claiming third in his BMW Sauber behind McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.

But reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen is 21 points adrift as he could only finish ninth despite a remarkable charge at the close and in the wake of making three stops due to the conditions.

The weather, though, again caused enough chaos, as it did in qualifying, that race director Charlie Whiting made the decision 11 minutes before the start the race would begin behind the safety car.

Whiting followed that with another call that extreme wet tyres were compulsory due to the worsening conditions.