F1 champ Vettel returns home

Residents of Heppenheim, the home town of Formula 1's youngest champion Sebastian Vettel, have celebrated the German driver's success on his first visit back home after winning the title at the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Thousands of fans waited for hours to catch a glimpse of their star, while Heppenheim's mayor, Gerhard Herbert, handed the famous local boy the golden book of the town, which has a population of just 25,000.

Vettel himself seemed overwhelmed by the thousands of fans who turned up at the event to celebrate their champion.

"When I was standing up there and saw all these people and they were all screaming and chanting, that knocks you out," Vettel told reporters.

The Red Bull driver became world champion at the age of 23 and 135 days. The previous youngest was McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in 2008, aged 23 and 301 days.

Vettel is only Germany's second F1 world champion, after seven times winner Michael Schumacher.