Young Scuderia Toro Rosso star Sebastian Vettel finishes inside the points on merit following a fast and committed performance in his first German Grand Prix in front of his home supporters at Hockenheim.

Sebastian Vettel fought hard to secure the final point in his maiden German Grand Prix at Hockenheim today, after duelling energetically race-long with - and ultimately getting the better of - former double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso.

Having been the only one of his countrymen to qualify inside the top ten on the starting grid, the recently-turned 21-year-old made a positive getaway when the lights went out to jump past future Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber and run a strong eighth throughout his opening stint.

Following his first pit-stop, Vettel - who grew up not far away from the Baden-Württemberg circuit - engaged in a fraught scrap with Alonso's Renault, a battle which on several occasions saw the pair running side-by-side, even down the pit-lane, and culminated in the Spaniard shaking his fist angrily at the uncompromising young Scuderia Toro Rosso ace after being pushed over the white line on the exit of the pits.

"It was a tough race with a lot of fights," Vettel acknowledged afterwards, "but it was big fun. The first lap was hard and close. I tried to pass Kimi [Raikkonen], but it didn't work out. I took some time to find a rhythm, but I had a wonderful car and could run at a great pace.

"I was disappointed when I saw the safety car as I was comfortably holding a points' position, but we did the best we could in the situation. I fought to the end; although I was quicker than Jarno I could not pass, and then he made a mistake, which brought me back to eighth place.

"Congratulations to everyone in the team - eighth with no retirements means we deserved to finish where we did, and I am proud of that."

Sébastien Bourdais came home less than six seconds behind Vettel at the end of one of his most encouraging performances of a frequently frustrating 'rookie' campaign in the top flight.

Though this translated only to twelfth place at the chequered flag, the French multiple Champ Car king nevertheless professed himself pleased with his performance - with a fastest lap less than two tenths of a second adrift of that of his team-mate.

"I am happy with this result in terms of the pace I could run," Bourdais affirmed, "but I was a bit unlucky with the safety car incident, as I knew it would involve me queuing in the pits behind Sebastian.

"I was able to keep up with [Nick] Heidfeld in the first stint, and the lap times were decent. The car worked better on the option tyre. Overall, I had a strong race and kept pushing, hanging on to take twelfth. Now I need to repeat this sort of performance and hopefully have some good luck to see it move me further up the order."

"Vettel's best race to date," concluded a clearly impressed STR team principal Franz Tost. "He got a good start passing Webber, running consistent lap times to stay ahead of him. The guys did a fantastic job in the pit-stop as it got us ahead of Alonso.

"He fought very well against Alonso, in an entertaining fight. The safety car worked against us, as it meant [Nelsinho] Piquet got ahead of us, having stopped before it. From then on, Vettel defended his position in a fantastic way and deserved this point in his home race.

"Bourdais also did a great job. Towards the end, he was closing the gap on Alonso and might even have passed him with a couple more laps. Well done to the whole team for a good day's work."