Sebastian Vettel wins the Indian Grand Prix and his 4th World Championship on the trot
Sebastian Vettel started from the pole on soft tyres. It was predicted that his teammate Mark Webber who had qualified 4th in the medium tyres may have a better strategy as the soft tyres were supposed to barely last for a lap or two in this circuit. Pirelli had advised that their soft tyres will last a maximum of 15 laps and the medium tyres 35 laps.
Sebastian Vettel started from the pole and moved into the lead. Felipe Massa squeezed through to the second position ahead of the two Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
However, Vettel surprised everybody and pit on lap 2 to change to medium tyres. He then drove through the field overtaking other cars. Meanwhile, Mark Webber had taken the lead and was setting fastest laps with the medium tyres. However, Vettel soon caught up with Mark Webber and even took over the lead from him. Mark Webber's race came to an abrupt end when he was asked by his engineer to park his car due to an alternate failure. Webber has been facing this problem in virtually every race this year whereas Vettel doesn't have this. We will never know the actual reason, however many believe that Red Bull doesn't want Webber to win.
Fernando Alonso appeared to hit Webber from behind in the first lap and had to pit for a new nose. He couldn't overtake other cars like Vettel did suggesting that his car probably didn't have the pace. He finished out of points in 11th position.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes was pretty happy to score a podium position as he came 2nd. His team mate Lewis Hamilton, who started in third position struggled and finished in 6th position.
Romain Grosjean had missed the cut and qualified in 17th position. He however did well to finish in the podium position. Infact his team mate Kimi Raikkonen who was in the contention for a podium position pitted on the penultimate lap (lap 59) and hence dropped down and finished in 7th position. Kimi however had the satisfaction of scoring the fastest lap of the race with a 1:27.679 in the last lap (lap 60).
Felipe Massa of Ferrari would be a happy man as he came in 4th. This performance of his may get him a drive next year with either Lotus or Williams. His performances in the second half of this year suggests that he merits to stay in a good time next year.
Sergio Perez who started just ahead of his teammate in 9th position at one time was running in second position and finished in 5th. He could overtake Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton who were struggling with their tyres. Perez's team mate Jenson Button had to make 4 pitstops and was classified as 14th.
Force India scored points with both their cars as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished in 8th and 9th positions. Daniel Ricciardo who will replace Webber in the Red Bull car scored the final point as he finished in 10th position. He was two seconds ahead of Alonso.
Pastor Maldonado was 0.6 second behind Alonso and finished in 12th position. Jean-Eric Vergne was a lap down and finished in 13th ahead of Jenson Button, Valtteri Bottas, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi.
Sebastian Vettel was crowned the 2013 drivers World Champion with his win at the Indian Grand Prix. He did some elaborate dougnuts with his car after winning the race. This resulted in his team being penalised 25,000 euros, a small sum to pay for the celebrations.
Final Standings in India Grand Prix 2013
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
3. R. Grosjean Lotus
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari
5. Sergio Perez McLaren
6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
8. P. di Resta Force India
9. Adrian Sutil Force India
10. D. Ricciardo Toro Rosso
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
12. P. Maldonado Williams
13. J. Vergne Toro Rosso
14. Jenson Button McLaren
15. E. Gutierrez Sauber
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams
17. M. Chilton Marussia
18. J. Bianchi Marussia
Retirements in Indian Grand Prix 2013
Nico HulkenbergMark Webber
Charles Pic
Giedo van der Garde