Sebastian Vettel 'has everything a future winner in F1 needs', says seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in the sport's 58-year history.

Sebastian Vettel has all he needs to go on to become a Formula 1 great - that is the ringing endorsement from Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in the sport's history.

Speaking about his young countryman - who is widely tipped to graduate from Scuderia Toro Rosso to the parent Red Bull Racing outfit in 2009, what will still only be his second full season in the top flight - seven-time F1 World Champion Schumacher insisted: "He has everything a future winner in F1 needs."

STR co-owner Gerhard Berger added to the praise, telling German news agency SID that "the boy will become a big name", whilst there was a more mixed appraisal of the recently-turned 21-year-old from the man he replaced at the small Faenza-based squad mid-2007, Scott Speed.

"I have known Sebastian since he was a boy," the 25-year-old - now a NASCAR star - acknowledged in an interview with Dutch magazine Formule 1 Race Report.

"He is a good driver and I wish him all the best. As a driver you need to be in the right place at the right moment, and at the moment he has that.

"He has of course been a bit lucky as well. All of his good results he achieved in the rain, and always with the right strategy by the team."