Sebastian Vettel was marked out early in his career as a potential future F1 champion, the young German dominating karting series on his road to the top of the motorsport pyramid.

The driver would go on to become the youngest F1 champion ever, bringing home four titles on the trot during his time with Red Bull as one of the most successful to ever compete in the sport.

Now racing with the revitalised Aston Martin team following his departure from Ferrari, Vettel is in his 14th season in F1 and is one of the biggest names in the sport.

But what is his background and how did Vettel make it into Formula 1? Here is everything you need to know about the biography of Sebastian Vettel.

Early Career

Vettel got his start in the motorsport world early, beginning karting aged just three while he went on to racing in series across his native Germany and Europe from age eight.

The boy from Heppenheim who idolised his F1 championship-winning countryman Michael Schumacher would go on to join the Red Bull Junior Team in 1998, winning a number of titles including the Junior Monaco Kart Cup in 2001.

Having scored trophies all over Europe, Vettel moved into open-wheel racing for the 2003 season. The youngster impressed and was rewarded with chance with Reynard Motorsport Champ Car in a two-day private test.The next year, he won the Formula BMW ADAC championship after taking 18 victories from 20 races across the course of the season.

For 2005, Vettel moved to ASL Mucke Motorsport to drive in the Formula 3 Euro Series, where he won the rookie of the year award and finished fifth in the final standings.

The strong performances were once again spied by onlookers, and he got his chance to step up to the top level with a test for Williams later that year, which was followed up by another session with the BMW Sauber F1 team. BMW Sauber appointed Vettel their test driver for 2006 while the German continued to drive in the Formula 3 Euro Series, where he finished as runner-up, and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

He was leading the championship in Formula Renault 3.5 when he was abruptly called up as BMW Sauber's third driver for that year's Turkish Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver to compete in a race weekend aged 19 years and 53 days.

2006-2007: F1 Debut with BMW Sauber

Vettel had demonstrated his talents immediately upon his entry to Formula 1 as he set the fastest time of the grid in the second Friday free practice that weekend in Turkey.

He also set another record- for collecting his first fine just nine seconds into his F1 career after exceeding the pit lane speed limit on his way to the track.

Again at the Italian Grand Prix that season Vettel set the fastest time in both Friday practice sessions, and his pace was recognised by a call-up to be the BMW Sauber test driver for 2007.

After Robert Kubica crashed and was ruled out of the rest of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix, Vettel was named his replacement and finished his first F1 race as a team driver in seventh, becoming the then-youngest person to score a point in F1.

BMW Sauber released the driver following the return of Kubica in the middle of the 2007 season to join Red Bull's junior team Toro Rosso, with Vettel racing with the team from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.

The 2008 season got off to a difficult start, with the driver retiring from all of the first four races, including three on the first lap, but he improved at the Monaco Grand Prix to finish fifth and score his first points of the season after qualifying 17th.

Then it all came together as the German driver made history as the youngest driver to ever win a Formula 1 race aged 21 years and 74 days at a rain-soaked Italian Grand Prix, after securing his team's first ever pole position earlier that weekend.

The win set the tone for what was to come, and as David Coulthard announced his retirement ahead of the 2009 season, Red Bull announced that Vettel would step in as his replacement alongside Mark Webber.

2009-2010: Red Bull and Title Push

When Vettel made the step up to drive with the Red Bull senior team, the timing could not have been any better.

The team was one of the youngest in the sport having only joined in 2001, and with their new prodigal driver where in a good position to push on for titles.

Vettel looked strong from the first race in Australia, where he qualified in second and was in contention for honours when a clash with Kubica forced both drivers to retire.

However, he then went on to repay the faith Red Bull had shown in him by taking the team's maiden pole position and race win at the Chinese Grand Prix, which was followed by further victories in Great Britain, Japan, and Abu Dhabi.

The results put Vettel in the running for the championship against Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team, but ultimately mistakes such as a crash at Monaco and issues with the car limited his ability to score points, and he eventually finished the year as runner up.

It was the next season in 2010 that the true promise of the Red Bull outfit would come to fruition, with Vettel pushed hard all the way by his teammate Mark Webber and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

Issues with the car once again ruined any hopes of a race win in Bahrain and Australia with Vettel leading from the front, but a first win came at Malaysia, and despite crashes with Button and Webber the driver managed to put his car on pole in 10 of 18 races.

The problems had taken their toll, and heading into the final race of the year Vettel needed a number of things to go his way to be in with any chance of winning the title.

In the last race at Abu Dhabi, both Webber and Alonso ran into issues, and so Vettel duly seized his chance and took his fifth victory of the season to become the youngest ever F1 world champion.

2010-2014: Championship Dominance

The German's title winning performances cemented him as one of the top drivers on the grid, and Red Bull duly extended his contract for 2011 until the end of 2014.

In 2011 the team once again had the dominant car on the grid, and Vettel exerted a stranglehold over the championship throughout the season, taking pole in 15 of 19 races and 11 victories.

The driver was well-ahead of teammate and sometime-rival Webber, who scored just one win at the final race of the year in Brazil as Vettel suffered a mechanical issue. But no one could touch the German and he became that year the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Fernando Alonso in 2006 with Renault.

The following year Red Bull continued their form, but this time Vettel's title defence would be pushed all the way by a resurgent Alonso.

A shift in regulations over the winter break chipped away at the team's advantage over their rivals, but Vettel managed to continue to fight at the front, finishing second at the opening race in Australia and getting his first victory at Bahrain.Throughout the first half of the 2012 season, Vettel struggled to get to grips with the changes to the car, being regularly outpaced by Webber and losing ground to Alonso in the championship race.

However, after the summer break things finally started to turn for the better, and Vettel won the race in Singapore following a retirement for Lewis Hamilton, sparking a sequence of four victories on the trot. He subsequently fell back after losing to Hamilton in the US, but Brazil would once again provide the backdrop for a dramatic last race as Vettel limped his way to sixth with a damaged car to score just enough points to beat Alonso to his third world title.

The 2013 season would see Vettel return to the dominance he had enjoyed in his early seasons with Red Bull, even though the early stages of the year promised a competitive grid.

Mercedes looked strong and kept the German off pole for a long portion of the year, and Vettel shared early wins with the Ferrari's of Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen also. The driver kept his car where he needed to be on the podium and scoring points to stay in contention for the title, and this year included the infamous 'Multi 21' team orders scandal which caused uproar between Vettel and Webber.

Despite the challenges, Vettel remained focussed and after the summer break bagged six wins on the bounce to seal the title race with three races to go on his way to setting a new record for consecutive grand prix victories - nine.

The history-making run would come to an abrupt end in the 2014 season however. Red Bull lost out as a switch to turbo-hybrid engines for that year's championship resulted in repeated power unit issues with the car during the year, with the team losing ground to Mercedes.

Their engine supplier, Renault, had not been best-placed for the technical changes compared to their competitors, and the gap between Red Bull and their German rivals became apparent as the season went on. Vettel struggled to get the best out of the car within the team, with new teammate Daniel Ricciardo taking advantage of the rare occasions where the was an opening to slip ahead.

The driver slipped down to fifth in the championship that year, and the ongoing frustration with being in an uncompetitive car eventually resulted with him announcing as the Japanese Grand Prix that he would leave the team he signed with 16 years earlier.

Later that year, Vettel was announced as the replacement for Alonso at Ferrari, fulfilling a childhood team by signing for the team of his hero Michael Schumacher.

2015-2018: Ferrari move

Vettel had not joined Ferrari on the upswing as he had with Red Bull.

The team had been even less competitive than their rivals after the switch to turbo-hybrid power trains in 2014, but for the next year the team was rejuvenated by the signing of Vettel and planned to once again challenge Mercedes at the front.

The driver made good on his signing costs straight away by finishing third at the Australian Grand Prix and following that up with a win in Malaysia, his first win in over a year and the first for the team in over two years. Further victories would come in Hungary, Singapore and Spa, but the Ferrari was never really close enough to sustain a challenge to the Mercedes, and Vettel ultimately finished the year in third.

For 2016, the driver once again showed early promise, but the year would ultimately prove to be frustrating as he would go on to end the without a win once again.

Vettel clashed with other drivers on the grid multiple times, including an incident at the Mexican Grand Prix where, having been incorrectly told he could pass Max Verstappen, the driver swore at his Dutch counterpart and race director Charlie Whiting when he couldn't pass. He later apologised.

He did manage to secure seven podium finishes during the season, but the Ferrari's were ultimately once again lagging the dominant Mercedes and Vettel's frustration with the team's position was clear.The following year similarly held much hope for Ferrari, who fancied themselves title contenders able to keep pace with Hamilton and Mercedes.

The early signs showed that Ferrari's decision to focus on its 2017 development programme the previous year paid off as Vettel led the championship at the midway point of the season following wins in Australia, Bahrain and Monaco.

He had another run in with long-standing rival Lewis Hamilton in Azerbaijan as Vettel collided into the rear of the race leader and subsequently accused him of brake testing the Red Bull.

After, the German hit the Mercedes as the pair lined up for a restart, for which he was given a 10-second penalty and later apologised. The driver's lead was cut to one point after a puncture at Silverstone saw him drop down to finish, but regained top spot following victory at the Hungaroring.

But in the run in to the season finale, a three-way collision at Singapore took both Ferraris out of the race, and a retirement in Japan put an end to hopes of a fifth title, with Hamilton instead taking Mercedes' fourth victory in a row.

The 2018 championship was dubbed the 'fight for five' as both Vettel and Hamilton were in the hunt for their fifth world championship titles.

Things were looking good early on for Ferrari, with Vettel scoring two wins in the first two races, but a series of errors throughout the season left Hamilton in pole position, and it was the Brit who would go on to secure his elusive fifth title.

2019-2020: Final Years at Ferrari

For the 2019 season, Ferrari picked a driver from its junior programme, Monegasque Charles Leclerc, to switch places from Alfa Romeo with Kimi Raikkonen.

The decision would prove to be one that played a role in Vettel departing the team he had dreamed of joining, but heading into that year the team remained confident of another championship push.

It proved difficult to overhaul the dominance of the Mercedes however, and Vettel started to fall off the pace, nearly a second behind pole position and finishing in third in the opening two races.

A first pole position came at the Canadian Grand Prix, but Vettel received a five-second time penalty after running over the grass and forcing Hamilton off the track, and while he crossed the line in first he ultimately lost the victory. At his home race in Germany, he wasn't even able to qualify due to an issue with the car and started from the back, while at Monza a collision with Racing Point's Lance Stroll earned him a 10-second penalty and he finished back in 13th.

Vettel won again at his favoured Singapore circuit, his fifth win at the track, but there was drama ahead as the driver collided with Leclerc in Brazil after the younger driver had made a pass, resulting in both cars retiring from the race.

At the end of the year, Vettel finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship and was outscored by a teammate for only the second time in his career.

Ahead of the 2020 season, Ferrari announced that they would not be extending Vettel's contract beyond that season after signing Charles Leclerc on a deal past 2021.While the situation wasn't ideal, it went from bad to worse as it became clear that an FIA ruling towards the end of the 2019 which forced Ferrari to change parts of its engine had been to the significant detriment of the car's performance.

Both Ferrari drivers struggled throughout the COVID-19-disrupted 2020 season, but Vettel had his most disappointing season in F1, finishing behind his teammate once again as the team fell to sixth in the Constructors'; Championship, its worst result since 1980.

2021 and future: Aston Martin

Midway through the 2020 season, Vettel announced that he had signed a deal with the rebranded Aston Martin team to race for the team in 2021.

Vettel replaced Sergio Perez at the team formerly known as Racing Point, racing alongside owner Lawrence Stroll's son Lance Stroll.