Greater Noida: Defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull continued his dominance at the Buddh International Circuit to win the Indian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday here today.
Sebastian Vettel remained unchallenged throughout the race and clocked 1:28.723 to complete a start to finish race. He was followed by Fernando Alonso (1:28.630) and team-mate Mark Webber on second and third spot.
The German bidding to become the youngest driver to win hat-trick of titles has now posted his fourth consecutive win of the season now has 240 points, 13 points clear of his closest rival Alonso.
Alonso who started the race from the third row did well to finish on the podium. He first overtook Lewis Hamilton of McLaren in lap three and then used DRS to overtake Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button.
It was a long battle for the third spot between Webber and Alonso, but the Spaniard eventually won in the 48th lap after Webber was found struggling with the KERS.
Vettel has now become the first driver since 1989 to lead each and every lap in three consecutive races. The last man to do it was the legendary Ayrton Senna. (San Marino, Monaco and Mexican Grand Prix).
“It has been incredible for me. To win here for two consecutive years is fantastic and I am very delighted. It is a very special Grand Prix and I really like the circuit,” Vettel said after the race.
Hamilton, Button and Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa ended the race fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Kimi Raikonnen of Lotus third on the driver’s standing ended seventh to trail Vettel by 67 points.
Meanwhile the home fans had something to cheer about as Nico Hulkenburg with his eighth place finish got four points for Sahara Force India after starting 12th on the grid while Paul di Resta finished 1.1s behind Nico Rosberg on 12th.
Kimi’s teammate Romain Grosjean finished 9th while Bruno Senna of Williams fended off a strong challenge from Rosberg to take the final points.
Michael Schumacher of Mercedes in his last race here got off to a worst possible start with a right rear puncture and then was lapped by winner Vettel in the eight lap. He did not finish the race.
Two more drivers Pedro de La Rosa of HRT and Sergio Perez of Sauber could not finish the race due to break failures.
Pererz was earlier challenging Hulkenburg for the eight spot before a cut in rear tyre which saw him retire after two further stops.
Meanwhile lone Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan of HRT finished the race 21st. He initially had problems with his brakes, but then did well to finish the race.
“I got off to a good start but had an incident on the first corner and lost a chunk of my front wing. The damage was not too severe but we had problems with the balance of the car from then on. But the greatest problem was the overheating of the brakes’” said Karthikeyan after the race.
They warned me on the radio that I had to look after them, because we had to make it to the end. We got most out of what he had and I am happy to have finished my home race,” he added.
The race has of sorts thrown Kimi out of the title race and it will now be a two way battle between Vettel and Alonso in the remaining three races of the season.
The race will also helped Red Bull open up a huge lead over Ferrari in the constructer’s table. Red Bull with 407 now have move 91 points clear of the Italian outfit.
By Indian Sports News Network
