SEBASTIAN Vettel has just clinched his third consecutive F1 Championship and at 25 he's eclipsing some of the greats of motor racing including his legendary countryman Michael Schumacher.

The young master is also about to get another one over on his fellow German by having a car named after him just five years into his Grand Prix career.

It was 10 years before Schumacher gained the honour - and that was with a special edition Fiat Seicento.

The car which will bear the Vettel name is a little more exotic and comes with a cool price tag of more than £100,000.

With luxury car maker Infiniti one of the sponsors of the Red Bull team for which Vettel drives, the special model is based on the company's FX50 high performance SUV.

Only 150 will be produced and of those only a handful will be coming to Britain - and we have just grabbed a drive in one of the prototypes.

Vettel himself has played a key part in the development of the car suggesting features such as the F1-style front spoiler.

The car comes festooned with race grade carbon fibre including the aerodynamic front apron, running boards, door mirrors, a rear diffuser and an optional tail spoiler.

Its looks are unmissable and the carbon theme is continued inside on the dash and centre console. There's also special upholstery, stitched in purple.

Under the bonnet the five-litre normally aspirated V8 engine has been tweaked to deliver 420ps - 30 more than the standard version - resulting in a 0 to 60 acceleration of just 5.6 seconds.

The top speed is restricted to 155mph but without the limiter it would be capable of more than 180mph.

Sitting almost an inch lower than a regular FX50 and with the absence of roof rails, the Vettel Edition comes in a striking white paint job highlighted with LED running lights embedded into the front apron.

At the back - and in true F1 fashion - the fog lamp is made up of 15 LED red lights, just as they appear on the back of Vettel's racing car.

Push the starter button and a mighty roar emanates from the twin exhausts. It grows under acceleration and for an even more stimulating soundtrack electronic exhaust flaps can be opened by pressing a button in the cockpit which can be found behind a special Vettel badge.

Other Vettel logos can be found on the tailgate and above the side vents while the car itself sits on 21-inch black alloys.

Its venomous appearance is accompanied by sports car like handling with a beefed up suspension and rapid fire seven speed auto box which can be operated manually by paddle shifters which flank the steering wheel.

For a car which began life as an SUV it is surprisingly agile and the balance is much improved compared to the everyday FX50.

The Vettel Edition models are hand finished by specialists at CRD in Germany - a division of Brabus - and each car takes 25 craftsmen 320 working hours to complete.

The cars cost £100,800 a piece - the rear spoiler is an extra - and that's almost double the price of the FX50 S Premium Vettel drives as his ‘company' car.

Infiniti says that deliveries of the specials should start in March next year and of the 150 which will be built there will be no more than 10 in right hand drive.

Vettel himself will take delivery of the first model and for those who join him in the most exclusive of motoring clubs there could be more to come.

Infiniti is attaching a ‘money can't buy' package to ownership of FX Vettels which may include VIP invitations to exclusive events, high performance driver training with star drivers, sessions in an F1 simulator and passenger rides in a three-seater F1 car.