India: Vettel takes title with crushing win

Sebastian Vettel has won the 2013 Formula 1 Airtel Indian Grand Prix. The win is his tenth of the 2013 season, sixth race win in a row, and was enough to guarantee the young German his fourth consecutive Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship.

Nico Rosberg and Mercedes finished in second whilst Lotus’ Romain Grosjean fought from the back of the grid to a well-deserved third place, the Frenchman’s third podium finish in as many races.

Sergio Perez crossed the line in fifth place, the strongest race position achieved by the youngster with the McLaren outfit whilst Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished sixth. Kimi Raikkonen, who fell from second to seventh after a long sting strategy failed in the final stages, had a quiet day otherwise whilst di Resta, Sutil and Ricciardo made the remainder of the top ten.

Fernando Alonso, who needed to finish second or higher today to keep the Championship fight with Vettel alive, failed to make any ground throughout the day, and would finish the race out of the points in just eleventh. McLaren’s Jenson Button also failed to make the points and was never a standout feature throughout the entirety of the race, finished just 14th overall.

Sebastian Vettel got off to a strong start as the lights went out to start the race. Leading into the first corner, Vettel was over two seconds ahead of the pack as the first lap came to an end. Mark Webber, who was on a different tyre strategy then his teammate pit for new tyres after just one lap, whilst a surprising move from Red Bull saw Vettel fitted with tyres just one lap later on the second lap of the race.

Fernando Alonso’s campaign to place either first or second to keep the Championship fight alive got off to a difficult start when his Ferrari came into contact with the Red Bull of Mark Webber on the first lap causing front wing damage and forcing Ferrari to pit Alonso to fix the damage. Meanwhile Felipe Massa has a tremendous start, powering from fifth on the grid past the second and third placed Mercedes’ cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and taking lead of the race once Vettel took his first stop. Massa continued to lead the race until lap nine when he was forced to stop for a new set of tyres.

It took just 11 laps of the Indian Grand Prix for it to become clear how much tyre strategy would become a key part of the race as drivers and teams got an understanding of how long the softer compound Pirelli tyre would last.

20 laps into the race and after a series of pit stops ahead of him, as well as an immaculate drive as per usual, Sebastian Vettel had moved himself back into third place and then finally into second with Webber eleven seconds ahead.

Further down the pack, Fernando Alonso struggled to get much going for him, fighting for 15th place with Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez. Trying to charge through the pack to get to the targeted first or second place, Alonso would be unable to really challenge Vettel at any time making his march to the World Championship that little bit easier.

Mark Webber surrendered the lead to Vettel on lap 29 when his medium tyre compound tyres finally gave in. Webber would be fitted with the soft compound tyres and re-join the race in second place. Vettel’s second stop of the afternoon came just three laps later though, as Webber re-took the lead of the race before pitting for his third and final time of the race on lap 33. This left Vettel to once again take the lead of the race with a 12.5 second lead over the pack.

After a spectacular push all race, Mark Webber’s last Indian Grand Prix in Formula 1 came to an abrupt end on lap 40 when he was forced to retire from the race with an alternator failure. Pitched as a potential race winner here, it was a disappointing end to a well fought race for the Aussie.

As the race continued into the final stages, Mercedes continued to push for the best placed finishes possible as their fight for second in the World Constructor’s Championship with Ferrari continues into the final three races of the season. With just 15 laps to go, Nico Rosberg sat in third place whilst teammate Lewis Hamilton placed sixth.

Kimi Raikkonen, who had a somewhat quiet race this weekend, sat in second place for a good part of the race until his degrading tyres forced him to surrender the place to Nico Rosberg, who would pass the Finn for second with ease. Raikkonen’s tyre woes continued in the final laps of the race as teammate Romain Grosjean then passed for third place with Felipe Massa just behind, dropping Raikkonen into fifth place with just three laps to go.

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Sergio Perez were next to follow, passing Kimi Raikkonen in the DRS zone on lap 58. Sergio Perez pulled off arguably the best overtaking manoeuvre of the afternoon in doing so, passing both Raikkonen and Hamilton on the straight to take fifth place. Raikkonen would then pit for new tyres, unable to make it to the end of the race on the old tyres. Seventh would be the highest place achievable when he crossed the finish line.

Force India had what they would deem to be a successful afternoons racing with both drivers finishing within the top ten. Soon to be Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo also had another strong run, finishing tenth and scoring another valuable World Championship point for himself and the team.

Further down the grid, both Marussia cars finished the race whilst both Caterham cars did not.

Sebastian Vettel has now won the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship 2013, leaving the battle for second to continue into the final three races. Fernando Alonso is currently placed second with 207 points whilst Kimi Raikkonen sits third with 183.

The battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship also heats up as Mercedes has now replaced Ferrari for second place by 6 points.

The Formula 1 calendar resumes one week from now on the weekend of November 01 – 03 for the 2013 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.