Sebastian Vettel Eases To Victory In India

Sebastian Vettel was never remotely challenged in the second Indian Grand Prix on Sunday, winning it even more easily than he did the first a year ago. Once he'd shrugged off a challenge from Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in the first corner, he controlled the race and went on to win it.

Though it appeared to be an easy win, but Alonso's drive ensured that he only lost seven points in the championship standings, extending the Red Bull driver's lead to 13 points. Mark Webber held off a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton to take third place, but suffered with KERS issues during the race and lost a position to Alonso as a result.

At race start, Jean-Eric Vergne got the front wing of his Toro Rosso pinched in the first corner, which resulted in a cut right-rear tyre for Mercedes' Michael Schumacher. Both pitted for repairs at the end of the first lap, then fought their way back. Vergne's excellent efforts got him 15th place at the race finish. And the German eventually retired his Mercedes after a gearbox issue with five laps left. Schumacher was also later investigated for ignoring blue flags (although no further action was taken).

Sergio Pérez was fighting Force India's Nico Hülkenberg for eighth early on when he sustained a cut rear tyre, and retired after two further stops. Sauber's Pérez was only twenty laps into his race.

The third and final retirement came from HRT's Pedro de la Rosa, who was heard early in the race being told by his race engineer to 'cool the brakes' and eventually 'cool it all' down. The Spaniard eventually spun off track and crashed due to brake failure.

Lap 45 Webber received an all-too-familiar radio message telling him his KERS had failed. It didn't take long for the news to be relayed to Alonso's cockpit and the Ferrari picked up the pace and passed the wounded RB8. 

A couple of laps later, Alonso got a faint glimpse of victory as sparks started to spray from the undertray of Vettel's car. It seemed as though Vettel's car may have also had a issue but the problem appeared to correct itself a couple of laps later. Leaving Alonso close enough to the tail end of Vettel to watch him cross the checkered flag and extend his lead in the driver's title race.

One place back and the race was still on. After being passed by Alonso, Webber's attention immediately switched to Hamilton's McLaren. Hamilton was now showing a strong enough pace to catch the KERS-less plagued  Red Bull. However, Webber's power boost returned in the closing stages and he was able to hold off Hamilton in the final laps..

Button took some of the fizz out of Vettel's celebrations by snatching the fastest lap as he crossed the line for fifth, but it was meager consolation for McLaren (which dropped more points to both Ferrari and Red Bull in the constructors' championship).

Vettel's victory in India puts him 13 points clear of Alonso in the hunt for the driver's title, while his team moves up to 407 in the constructors' table to Ferrari's 316, McLaren's 306 and Lotus' 263.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Fernando Alonso	Second     Fan's Choice
Mark Webber	Third
Lewis Hamilton	P4
Jenson Button	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Kimi Räikkönen	P7
Nico Hülkenberg	P8
Romain Grosjean	P9
Bruno Senna	P10
Nico Rosberg	P11
Paul di Resta	P12
Daniel Ricciardo	P13
Kamui Kobayashi	P14
Jean-Éric Vergne	P15
Pastor Maldonado	P16
Vitaly Petrov	P17
Heikki Kovalainen	P18
Charles Pic	P19
Timo Glock	P20
Narain Karthikeyan	P21
Michael Schumacher	Retired (Gearbox)
Pedro de la Rosa	Retired (Brakes)
Sergio Pérez	Retired (Puncture damage)