View our EXCLUSIVE slide show of all the Italian GP action

If F1 fans were looking for a feel-good result after last week’s controversial race in Belgium – where Lewis Hamilton was stripped of his win – the Italian Grand Prix at the historic Monza circuit provided just that.

Monza park north of Milan usually greets F1 in September with warm early autumn sunshine. This year it seldom stopped raining – but as ever a drop of rain brought high drama.

Vettel was in astounding form on a circuit that more often resembled a lake. He carpeted pole position in qualifying with a daring late lap as the rain got heavier, snatching first on the grid from Lewis Hamilton’s team mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Hamilton was caught out on the wrong tyres at the wrong moment and lined up a career-worst 15th, one place behind world champion Kimi Raikkonen. Felipe Massa, Hamilton’s closest rival in the championship, took sixth.

On race day the conditions were so poor the cars set off in single file behind the safety car, instead of the traditional standing start. That gave Vettel the advantage of running up front with a clear view of the track as his rivals struggled in spray. He pulled out an 11 second lead in 18 laps, scarcely putting a wheel off-line.

Meanwhile Hamilton began fighting his way through the field, passing Giancarlo Fisichella, Kimi Raikkonen, Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock, Robert Kubica and Jarno Trulli. As other cars pitted he suddenly arrived in second, hunting Vettel down.

With the track still wet Hamilton stayed on deep-grooved ‘extreme’ wet tyres when he made his first pit stop. But just a few laps later drivers began trying to shallower-grooved wet tyres and found they were even quicker.

That played into Vettel’s hands as he, unlike most of his rivals, was already planning to make a second pit stop. Hamilton emerged from his second pit stop behind Massa in seventh but couldn’t find a way around the Ferrari driver.

Vettel became the youngest driver to win a race and set pole position, aged 21 years and 74 days on Sunday.

Hamilton’s championship lead over Massa has been cut to a single point. The British driver will be in Paris on Monday next week as McLaren appeal against his controversial Belgian Grand Prix penalty.

Should Lewis Hamilton get his Belgian Grand Prix win back? Have your say on the Auto Trader Blog

Five things you should know about Sebastian Vettel

1. He is from Heppenheim in Germany, used to practice kart racing on the track owned by Michael Schumacher’s dad, and enjoys British TV programmes including Little Britain.
2. In 2004 he claimed the Formula BMW Germany championship title, winning 18 of the 20 races.
3. He had a chance to sample a Williams F1 car aged 18 – but had to ask his teacher for time off for the test drive.
4. He won the first two races when he stepped up to the much more powerful World Series by Renault in 2006.
5. He made his F1 debut for BMW, standing in for Robert Kubica at Indianapolis last year, and became the youngest driver to score a world championship point.

Audi takes Le Mans title at Silverstone

Britain’s Allan McNish and Italian Rinaldo Capello scored a surprise win for Audi in the Le Mans Series finale at Silverstone.

The Audi R10s were expected to struggle to compete with Peugeot’s 908 HDi FAPs. But their French rivals suffered a series of crashes, swinging the advantage to Audi.

McNish and Capello were part of the three-man team (along with Tom Kristensen) that won the Le Mans 24 Hours for Audi in June. Peugeot won the other four races in the Le Mans series, but the title and the prestigious French classic went to Audi.

View our EXCLUSIVE slide show of all the Italian GP action