Vettel zooms into record books

German creates Formula One history with European GP triumph

Taking the chequered flag 10.8 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who at least gave the home crowd something to be excited about, the 23-year-old German was dominant from pole to finish.

“This is the best one so far,” he shouted over the team radio after he crossed the line, even if millions of spectators might disagree after an afternoon with fewer thrills than in a single lap of the Canadian race two weeks ago.

Vettel is now 77 points clear of McLaren's Jenson Button and his own Australian team-mate Mark Webber, who finished a solitary third and 27.2 seconds down the road, in the championship.

The German's 16th career triumph put him level with British great Stirling Moss in the all-time winners' list. The victory also made him the first man to finish first or second in the opening eight races of a season in the history of Formula One.

 The champion now has such an advantage that he can be sure of leading the championship to the end of August even without scoring another point. The young driver has dropped just 14 points so far this year, beaten only twice and finishing second on both of those occasions.

“Maybe from the outside, I don't know how much was happening in the grand prix, it looked like a boring race but I enjoyed it so much,” said Vettel, who was never threatened throughout the 57 laps of the Mediterranean port city's street circuit.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who beat Vettel in China in April, stayed out of trouble after two controversial races and banked solid points in fourth place after starting third but losing out to both Ferraris going into the first corner.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was fifth with Button, the winner of the Montreal epic, sixth.

Sutil finishes ninth

Adrian Sutil matched his second best performance of the season by finishing ninth, earning two points for Force India, while Paul di Resta ended up outside the points bracket with 14th position. Sutil, who started 10th on the grid, had managed the same position in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. India’s Narain Karthi-keyan began and ended 24th and last.