SHANGHAI, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Rookie Sebastian Vettel was understandably overjoyed after a fantastic drive to fourth place in Sunday´s Chinese Grand Prix, as Toro Rosso enjoyed their best ever race.

While most of the attention was focused on the drivers´ title battle up ahead Vettel had a stunning day.

It had been a difficult week for the German youngster after he was strongly criticised for crashing into Mark Webber in Japan last Sunday during a safety car period.

Vettel was then penalised five grid positions for obstructing another car in qualifying on Saturday.

He eventually started from 17th place but made the most of Toro Rosso´s decision to implement a one-stop strategy in wet conditions and sliced through the field to record a career best performance.

"A fantastic race," Vettel said.

"In the beginning it was quite difficult, starting in the midfield. For a couple of metres the visibility was okay and then you got all the spray. After the start, I used my momentum to go round the outside of several cars.

"Even though it was really slippery I took the risk. I kept pushing as hard as I could. Just as I changed to dry tyres the rain came, but fortunately it went away quickly.

"The last 20 laps were unbelievable and even though I had the situation under control and slowed the pace, it was tough."

Vettel´s teammate Tonio Liuzzi completed Toro Rosso´s best Formula One race with a sixth place finish, pushing the team up to seventh in the constructors´ championship.

"This was a great race from start to finish with everything going perfectly," Liuzzi said.

"I don´t think we could have done more than this. I am really happy for the team who really deserve these points. Many times this year, we have shown that we were capable of scoring points, but somehow we never got them."