Vettel Takes 11th Season Win At The Inaugural India Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel's green light to flag victory was his eleventh of the season and now the German now has the record books in his sights for matching Michael Schumacher's total of 13 race wins in a season. For the young German, he came to India with the idea that he was going to win. His pure dominance here, Vettel took the win  from Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. Mark Webber was fourth and Michael Schumacher would be delighted to have finished ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg in fifth place, while Lewis Hamilton finished seventh after being involved in yet another collision with Felipe Massa.

As the lights turned green, it seemed that Vettel was nearly holding back his massive 'take-offs'. Not sure it was a team order ploy or the fact that the Buddh International Circuit was not as well laid with rubber as most. But as the top half of the starting grid made off, it was the back of the grid that saw incident aplenty! Kamui Kobayashi, Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello all were involved in contacts. Kobayashi was forced into retirement and the other cars pit for repairs. Timo Glock was another early casualty as the Virgin retired as a result of the opening lap incident, soon to be followed by Pastor Maldonado, who lost his gearbox exiting from turn 4.

Not sure if there is an 'electromagnetic force' between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton but the 'big incident' of the race happened on lap 24. Hamilton tried to pass the Massa coming into turn five. It appeared that Massa may not have see the McLaren pull alongside him and as turned into the corner. His Ferrari was sent spinning off into the run-off area before he rejoined the race.

The incident resulted in a broken front wing for Hamilton and a drive through penalty for Massa. But things quickly went from bad to worse for Massa when he jumped a kerb coming into turn 9 breaking his suspension and sending him into retirement.

The Buddh International Circuit looked like an amazing track with many thought out turns and the longest straight on any currently used track. What this writer feels is that looking out over the track when the sun began to set, it may not have been the right country for it. 

Normally I am not one for personal opinions within my reports but after looking through hundreds (if not thousands of photos) and doing hours of research before hand, I have learnt that India may not be ready for this international (and multi-million dollar) sport to be there. And yet on the other hand, with Formula One bringing the world to India, we can see what only movies have portrayed.

If the country is willing to spend the funds necessary, hopefully the citizens can benefit from the income.


Full race results

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Jenson Button	2nd  Driver of the day
Fernando Alonso	3rd
Mark Webber	P4
Michael Schumacher	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Lewis Hamilton	P7
Jaime Alguersuari	P8
Adrian Sutil	P9
Sergio Perez	P10
Vitaly Petrov	P11
Bruno Senna	P12
Paul di Resta	P13
Heikki Kovalainen	P14
Rubens Barichello	P15
Jérôme d'Ambrosio	P16
Narain Karthikeyan	P17
Daniel Ricciardo	P18
Jarno Trulli	P19
Felipe Massa	Retired (collision)
Sébastien Buemi	Retired
Pastor Maldonado	Retired
Timo Glock	Retired (collision)
Kamui Kobayahi	Retired (collision)