Lewis Hamilton has reflected on Sebastian Vettel’s iconic maiden F1 victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

Toro Rosso rookie Vettel took a stunning pole position at Monza in heavy rain and went on to win the race by 12.5 seconds. He remains the last driver to take victory in his first full season.

As Hamilton explained in the ‘Being Sebastian Vettel‘ documentary, this was the moment Vettel truly announced himself as a future world champion. He would graduate to Red Bull in 2009 and win his first title a year later, launching a run of four in a row.

Lewis Hamilton knew Sebastian Vettel had world champion potential after Monza 2008

The win was Toro Rosso’s first in F1, and they wouldn’t repeat the feat until Pierre Gasly’s triumph at the 2020 Italian GP, when they were known as AlphaTauri.

Based on the constructors’ standings, the Toro Rosso was the sixth-best car in 2008. In the 21st century, only three other drivers have won a race in a car that finished outside the top five – Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan), Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Gasly – but rain is regarded as a leveller that brings a driver’s skill to the fore.

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Vettel finished runner-up in the Formula BMW ADAC series in 2003, his first year out of karting, and won all but two races in his second season. He finished as the runner-up in Euro F3 in 2006 and then joined the F1 grid midway through 2007.

The German made his debut for BMW Sauber in Indianapolis as a substitute for the injured Robert Kubica before taking Scott Speed’s seat at Toro Rosso.

“I had read about the success he was having, I think he had something like 18 wins out of 20,” Hamilton recalled.

“Everything happened very early for him, in a sense that he, when he got to Formula 1, he got that amazing pole position in Monza, and one in the rain, which was just showed how precise and how adaptive he was as a driver.”

Hamilton finished seventh, nearly 30 seconds behind Vettel, after he was eliminated in the second segment of qualifying.

“He blitzed everybody in a car far less superior, and I think that was a really defining moment, showing that this guy’s got what it takes to be a world champion,” he said.

Vettel, then 21, became the youngest ever F1 winner that day, though an 18-year-old Max Verstappen smashed his record eight years later. Kimi Antonelli has since bumped him down to third.

Antonelli is now set to break Vettel’s record and become the youngest ever world champion.

The Mercedes driver only turned 20 in August, while Vettel was 23 by the time he lifted the trophy in 2010.

Hamilton has called Vettel the best driver he’s ever raced against, an enormous compliment given that he has also faced Verstappen, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

The two drivers fought at the front of the grid for much of the 2010s, but they have developed a warm friendship in recent years. Hamilton’s immense respect for Vettel is obvious, and clearly mutual.