Performer of the Month: Sebastian Vettel

For a record eighth straight month Sebastian Vettel is the Castrol EDGE Performer of the Month, beating all comers from the world of motorsport to the accolade.

Sealing the monthly title followed an even more historic triumph as Vettel finally clinched the 2011 Formula 1 world championship, becoming the youngest double champion in the sport's history.

That he won the title with a podium - not victory - did nothing to dampen the elation of victory, but Vettel left no-one in doubt about his current superiority by winning the next two grands prix in Korea and India.

McLaren's Jenson Button proved to be his nearest challenger over the month, but in truth the Briton finished a long way off Vettel despite extending his own excellent run with one victory, one second and one fourth during October.

With the NASCAR Sprint Cup heading into its concluding rounds, several drivers also staked their own claims for the Performer of the Month accolade.

Carl Edwards finished top of the Sprint Cup pile with two podiums and three top 11 finishes over the five races in October, leaving him third overall, behind Vettel and Button.

Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne also made the top ten for October, broken up by Lewis Hamilton (fourth) and Fernando Alonso in seventh.

Ranking Year

After winning a BMW scholarship fund, Vettel made his race debut in Formula BMW Germany in 2003 and immediately showed his talent by winning on only his third start at Adria.

He won four more times that year on his way to the runner-up spot in the championship, and went one better the following season as he won 18 of the 20 races and dominated the series.

For 2005 he moved up to the F3 Euro Series and won the Rookie of the Year title in his first season. He also had his first taste of F1 machinery at the age of 18 as he tested for Williams - his prize for winning the FBMW crown in his homeland.

It was the following season though in which he truly arrived on the international scene, with his runner-up spot in the F3 Euro Series and two wins from three races in the World Series by Renault almost becoming an afterthought.

This was because after Jacques Villeneuve's sacking from the BMW Sauber F1 squad and Robert Kubica's promotion to a race seat as a result,

Vettel was named as the team's official test driver from the Turkish Grand Prix onwards.

With F1 rules allowing test drivers to compete in Friday practice sessions at grands prix, Vettel was able to gain crucial mileage during the latter half of the year and became the youngest man to top an official F1 session in Turkey.

He made his F1 race debut at Indianapolis the following year in place of Kubica, who had been injured the previous week in an horrific shunt in Canada, and surprised the establishment by qualifying seventh and finishing eighth - becoming the youngest points scorer in World Championship history in the process.

All the while, he remained under a Red Bull management contract, its young driver co-ordinator Helmut Marko clearly spotting his potential from an early age.

Following the sacking of Scott Speed from Red Bull's B-team, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Vettel was given a race seat for the final seven races of the season.

Fourth place in a wet/dry Chinese Grand Prix came his way and helped him secure a full-time F1 race seat with the team for '08.

The baby-faced assassin became the youngest winner in F1 history when he triumphed from pole at that year's Italian Grand Prix and continued his imperious rise the following season as he was moved to Red Bull Racing.

He took the team's first GP win in China last year and finished second in the World Championship behind Jenson Button. It proved to be the building block for a dramatic 2010 campaign.

Unperturbed by failing to score in either of the first two races, a high-speed collision with his team-mate Mark Webber in Turkey that threatened to fracture the Red Bull squad, and an error-strewn performance in Spa, Vettel arrived at the Abu Dhabi season finale still with a slim chance of the title.

Despite trailing Fernando Alonso and Webber as the race started, the cards fell perfectly for the German as he won for the fifth time during the year and the rest messed up, enabling him to become the youngest world champion in the history of F1.

Having been in such sensational form throughout 2011, Vettel now just needs one point from the final five races to secure the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship – while simply turning up at Japan will likely secure him the Castrol EDGE Rankings top spot for 2011.