Twenty three years after it arrived on the Formula 1 scene under the Minardi name, Italy's 'other' Grand Prix team, now known as Scuderia Toro Rosso, thanks to its Red Bull ownership, but still based in the town of Faenza, took its first ever pole position this afternoon thanks to a sensation lap in the final qualifying session from star-of-the-moment Sebastian Vettel in the wet and tricky conditions.

Since Red Bull took control of Minardi in November 2005, the fortunes of F1's perennial tail enders have been transformed under the stewardship of former Grand Prix winner Gerhard Berger, and today the team took its first ever pole position. It was a day of records as Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest ever F1 pole sitter at just his 22nd attempt. Making it a truly memorable day for the little Italian team, which use customer-specification Ferrari V8 engines, Sébastien Bourdais will line up the other car on the second row, in fourth place.

Sebastian Vettel (STR3-03): “It will take time for this to sink in. It was my dream to one day drive a Formula 1 car and even if my target now has been to fight for poles and race wins, I didn’t expect it today and it feels fantastic. Doing it here in Italy is also amazing. There are two Italian teams, Ferrari is the bigger one, but I think today, people will also know about Scuderia Toro Rosso. Already it’s great just to be part of Formula 1, but to be sitting in the top spot is fantastic. It was very difficult to see anything out there and I think all the drivers did a good job to avoid any incidents. We improved the car a lot and I was very happy with it this morning and when you feel confident in your car, then that is the key. In the second session, conditions were very difficult and I managed to put together a good lap quite early. I think we did the right thing to go out and do a few laps, rather than just focus on trying for one quick one.”