Sebastian Vettel today cemented his place in the all-time greats of Formula 1 with an excellent drive in India which enable him towin the race and ensure his fourth World Drivers’ Championship title. The German drove a fantastic race from start to finish, with a smart strategy seeing him pit on the second lap to change his soft tyres and then cruise back into the lead with untouchable pace. After the race, Vettel’s celebrations pleased the crowd as he performed donuts on the start/finish straight before getting out of his car and bowing in front of it, testifying just how good a car the Red Bull is. Afterwards, he threw his gloves into the crowd and took his place on the podium to be congratulated for his efforts, an achievement which now lets him join legends such as Prost, Fangio and Schumacher as four-time world champions.
After Vettel pitted early, it was Felipe Massa who took the lead, meaning that Vettel’s record of having led every lap of every Indian Grand Prix had been broken. Nevertheless, that statistic wasn’t going to mean much to the German on a day when he won his fourth consecutive title. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber had an unfortunate race, as a poor start meant he couldn’t challenge Vettel at all. His misery was then compounded as an alternator failure meant he had to retire.
It was Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg who took second place, while Romain Grosjean of Lotus made it three podiums in a row with a fantastic drive from seventeenth to third. Their team mates, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, could only manage sixth and seventh respectively after struggling with tyre degradation.
Elsewhere, Scot Paul di Resta managed to end his barren run of seven races without a point with a solid drive to take eighth place ahead of his team mate Adrian Sutil in ninth. After a strategic decision to pit after the first lap to change the soft tyre, di Resta managed to move up the field into the points, and gained an extra place when Nico Hulkenberg had to retire. His eighth place finish means that he moves further ahead of his team mate in the standings and will be an advantage when it comes to his hopes of securing a seat for next season.
The next race is only a week away in Abu Dhabi. Vettel will go into it safe in the knowledge that he has joined the ranks of a very prestigious set of drivers, and will be looking to finish the season with as many wins as possible. Today’s result has just endorsed the fact that it will be almost impossible to stop him.
Full Race Results
