In-demand F1 star Sebastian Vettel insists Scuderia Toro Rosso is 'moving in the right direction' after qualifying a superb eighth for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel has rated his eighth spot on the starting grid for Scuderia Toro Rosso in today's British Grand Prix at Silverstone as one of the proudest moments of his fledgling Formula 1 career, as he claims the team is 'moving in the right direction'.

Though the result does not mark the best qualifying position of the young German's 17 races in the top flight - that coming on his surprise debut for BMW-Sauber, when he briefly replaced Robert Kubica following the Pole's terrifying, high-speed Montreal smash last year - it was nevertheless an extremely impressive performance on his maiden visit to the Northants circuit.

Lining up ahead of no lesser names than world championship leader Felipe Massa in the Ferrari and Kubica himself - seemingly with a very healthy, possibly one-stop fuel load on-board too - it was a potent advertisement to expected future employers Red Bull Racing to snap him up now…before someone else does.

"I qualified seventh in Indy with BMW," the just-turned 21-year-old reflected, "but to be eighth with Toro Rosso means we can be very proud of what we have achieved. We had a very good balance on the car and all weekend I've felt very comfortable - even on my first race weekend at this tough and challenging track.

"It seems we are moving in the right direction with the new car and we have made a step forward. It's fun fighting in the top ten. We should be in good shape [on Sunday], whatever the weather and we will deal with whatever comes."

Team-mate Sébastien Bourdais ended up 13th-quickest in the final reckoning, after producing a stellar lap in the dying moments of Q1 to lap faster than anybody else in the middle sector, only to then miss out on making it through into the top ten shoot-out by almost four tenths of a second as the Frenchman's difficult F1 baptism continues.

"Thirteenth is not exactly the most satisfying result," the multiple Champ Car king confessed, "but given how much we struggled here in practice, it's good to move up a notch and be a bit more competitive. We struggled to find the right set-up so we went for the best compromise, and the result was rather encouraging.

"I don't think anyone knows what the weather will do [on Sunday], but definitely it seemed to go well in the wet in the morning and I found the car easier to drive in those conditions, so I wouldn't complain if it rained."

"This is a great result - our best qualifying of the year - proving that the team is getting better," added the small Faenza-based squad's technical director Giorgio Ascanelli. "It's the result of getting to know our car, which performed really well. We are working hard."