Vettel, now 17 points behind the Briton after starting eight ahead, led from pole position until rain caused chaos in the closing laps, with the German skidding into the barriers in front of his home fans.
Ferrari's last win before Sunday was with Sebastian Vettel in Singapore in September 2019.
Lewis Hamilton was 'shocked' with the pace of Mercedes after notching a record-extending eighth pole position at the Australian Grand Prix ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas as they thrashed their Formula One rivals in qualifying on Saturday.
Formula One leader Max Verstappen handed his Red Bull team a home pole position for Saturday's sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix after Mercedes rivals Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crashed in qualifying.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso put his faith in Formula One's governing body and Pirelli ensuring safety at the German Grand Prix on Thursday after multiple tyre blowouts at last weekend's British race.
The front row lockout was a record-equalling 65th for champions Mercedes.
Red Bull's Dutch 20-year-old Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in second place with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium for Ferrari and Australian Daniel Ricciardo finishing fourth for Red Bull.
Sahara Force India enjoyed its second successive double points finish with Nico Hulkenberg finishing seventh and Sergio Perez ninth at their home race, British Grand Prix in Silverstone.
World champion Lewis Hamilton is better for Formula One than either Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg, the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Sunday.
Verstappen suffered two retirements from the first three races but has otherwise finished all but two rounds in the top three.
Max Verstappen led a soggy Monaco Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday
Lewis Hamilton joined the elite group of triple Formula One world champions on Sunday after winning a thrilling U.S. Grand Prix that kept the crowd on tenterhooks right to the very end.
Lewis Hamilton won in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and took championship lead.
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row for Mercedes.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton stormed to his third successive pole position of the season, and third in a row in China, after edging team-mate Nico Rosberg in a front-row lockout for Mercedes on Saturday.
Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, who is still recovering from his 2013 skiing crash, is on the way to positive recovery.
Verstappen hustled his Honda-powered Red Bull around the popular figure-of-eight layout in one minute, 29.304 seconds
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton crashed into the tyre wall but still stayed top of the timesheets after a rain-lashed Canadian Grand Prix practice on Friday.
Verstappen goes into the Formula One record books as the pole setter for the weekend, however, regardless of where he starts on Sunday.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has thrown doubt on this year's German Grand Prix taking place at either Nuerburgring or Hockenheim.
Lewis Hamilton is now just three wins short of Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time record 91.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday after a furious Max Verstappen was forced to abandon his fastest lap for fear of running out of fuel.
Ferrari had all the tools to be successful this season but mistakes and mechanical issue thwarted the team's title ambitions, according to Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton, who had also topped Saturday morning's final practice session, never look like being challenged throughout the qualifying hour.
Lewis Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to miss last year's penultimate Sakhir Grand Prix in December.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a wet and crazily chaotic German Grand Prix littered with crashes and safety car periods on Sunday with Mercedes' Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton failing to score.
Lewis Hamilton has competed with Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Vettel, champions all of them, and he has come out on top.
Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheets in final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, ending the stranglehold of previously dominant champions Mercedes. Vettel lapped the Sakhir Circuit in a best time of one minute 31.683 seconds, 0.040 faster than team mate Kimi Raikkonen on the supersoft tyres. It was the first time this season that any driver from outside the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton had ended practice on top. Hamilton was quickest in all three sessions in Australia two weeks ago while championship frontrunner Rosberg led his team mate in Bahrain practices one and two on Friday. Rosberg was third fastest in practice three, his time of 1:32.104 slower than Friday when he did 1:31.001, with Hamilton fourth.
Rediff.com gives you a peek into these action-packed moments from the weekend, frozen in time...
Lewis Hamilton became Britain's first four-time Formula One world champion at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.
Daniel Ricciardo is of Italian descent and has long been considered an obvious target for Ferrari,
IMAGES from the Belgian F1 Grand Prix
In the interests of better visibility, teams were told last month they could fix mirrors to the halo head protection device that encircles the cockpit and that became mandatory this season.
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, the first British winner of the men's title for 77 years, was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was condemned by the sporting community on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin's country losing hosting rights for the UEFA Champions League final while Formula One drivers said it was "wrong" to race there this year.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen became Formula One's youngest race winner on Sunday in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix that saw dominant Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide on the opening lap.
Sahara Force India's six-race point streak ended at the German Grand Prix as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished 11th and 13th respectively, at the Nurburgring circuit on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton spent the off-season crisscrossing the globe to party with A-list celebrities but Formula One's reigning champion is adamant there will be no hangover when he returns to work at this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso hailed the Briton as a Formula One great and said he was happy to see him stand on the brink of a fifth world championship.
Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and retook the Formula One lead from team mate Lewis Hamilton after a fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.
