Red Bull driver and two-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel made his 11th win of the season look easy in Sunday’s inaugural running of the Indian Grand Prix.
Vettel was untouchable on the newly built Buddh International Circuit. The 24- year-old German started on the pole and led all 60 laps. He also posted the fastest lap time on the final circuit around the 3.192-mile course, as he finished 8.4 seconds ahead of runner-up Jenson Button from McLaren.
“It was a very good race for us,” said Vettel, who claimed his 21st career F1 win. “The car was very well balanced. I felt more confident on the hard tires at the end. But overall, it was a fantastic performance.”
Fernando Alonso drove his Ferrari to a third-place finish, while Vettel’s teammate, Mark Webber, took the fourth spot. Mercedes GP drivers Schumacher and Nico Rosberg finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
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Jamie Alguersuari from Toro Rosso finished eighth, while Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez from Sauber completed the top-10. Fox News
Hamilton’s race had been hindered by a three-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags - used to warn the drivers to slow down - in Friday practice but there was more drama to come on race day.
The 2008 champion lost a place to Massa off the line and spent a frustrating first stint behind the Brazilian’s Ferrari.
After the first round of stops, Hamilton took matters into his own hands and attempted to pass Massa on the inside of the fast Turn Five, only for the two to make contact instead.
“Felipe just turned in on me,” Hamilton said on the pit-to-car radio. “He didn’t give me any space.”
He may have been making an appeal to the authorities as twice this season he has found himself in hot water with the stewards for clashes with Massa in Monaco and Singapore.
But this time the stewards voted in his favour and Massa, whose car survived with minimal damage while Hamilton had to collect a new front wing and fresh tyres, was handed a drive-through penalty for causing a collision. BBC Sport
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault Winner 2 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +8.4 secs 3 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +24.3 secs 4 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault +25.5 secs 5 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +65.4 secs 6 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +66.8 secs 7 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +84.1 secs 8 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari +1 Lap 9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1 Lap 10 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap 11 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault +1 Lap 12 9 Bruno Senna Renault +1 Lap 13 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1 Lap 14 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault +2 Lap 15 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +2 Lap 16 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth +3 Lap 17 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +3 Lap 18 23 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth +3 Lap 19 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault +5 Lap Ret 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari +28 Laps Ret 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari +36 Laps Ret 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth +48 Laps Ret 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth +58 Laps Ret 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + secs
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