FANTASTIC FOUR ... Sebastian Vettel tops the Indian podium and celebrates his fourth straight win
Published: 3 hrs ago
SEBASTIAN VETTEL romped to victory in the Indian Grand Prix to open up a 13 point gap in the drivers’ championship over Fernando Alonso.
The Red Bull ace has now won the last FOUR races and looks nailed onto win the title for a third successive year.
Vettel was 9.4 seconds ahead of second-placed Alonso around the Buddh International Circuit, as the two slugged it out like two heavyweights.
The German’s team-mate Mark Webber was in third while Lewis Hamilton, who started in third place, had to settle for fourth spot, one ahead of Jenson Button.
Vettel has now won an impressive 118 points from a maximum of 150 and it would have been more too had he not suffered an alternator failure in the Italian Grand Prix while he was in first place.
He said: “If you think about the world championship this is a good step for us.
“But we’ve a long way to go, and we’ve seen how quickly things can change.
“I’m just very proud and very happy. Now we have to focus on Abu Dhabi next week. We just have to take it step by step.”
Alonso added: “It’s not easy at the moment fighting Red Bull, but we will never give up.
“We’re happy today. We lost minimum points, which was the plan because we were not quick enough, but better races will come.
“I’m sure we will do it.”
Vettel's Milton Keynes-based team sent an early warning by making it a front row lock-out for three successive races after Saturday’s qualifying session.
The world champion beat Webber to snatch pole while Alonso had to settle for fifth behind the McLaren duo of Button and Hamilton.
Both Red Bulls made a clean getaway into the first turn while there was a great battle behind them between Hamilton, Alonso and Button.
Hamilton made a slow start and was quickly overtaken by Button going into the first turn.
The two Brits then slugged it out for third spot along the straight, which played into the hands of Alonso, who used their slipstream to catapult himself past both the McLarens.
It was a great move by the Spaniard but Hamilton and Button hit back to regain their positions.
OUT IN FRONT ... Sebastian Vettel romps towards victory in the Indian Grand Prix
However, Alonso was never going to give up his challenge and he got past Hamilton once more, who had dropped two places by the start of the second lap.
The battle for third was no concern for Vettel and Webber, who looked to make the most of the clean air to open up a lead at the front of the pack.
It was a worrying sight for McLaren, which got even worse when Alonso benefitted from his long seventh gear and the open DRS to breeze past Button on lap four.
Button was then overtaken by Hamilton as the thrilling opening battle finally evened itself out.
Much further back, Michael Schumacher continued his miserable march to retirement after picking up an early puncture to his rear right tyre.
The German, who is being replaced at Mercedes by Hamilton for next season, was quickly lapped by Vettel.
Vettel was looking comfortable out in front and his advantage over Alonso by the 18th lap was already up to almost nine seconds.
Back in the middle of the chasing pack, there were some great overtakes from Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean.
But there was nothing brilliant about Sergio Perez’s performance once again.
Big things are expected from the Mexican, who has been selected as Hamilton’s replacement at McLaren, despite being relatively inexperienced.
McLaren have made no secret of the fact they will need to nurture the 22-year-old — but just quite how much they need to do is not yet known.
He did not cover himself in glory when he was too quick into turn one and then had to be heavy on the brakes, damaging his fresh new tyres.
He then clipped Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso to pick up a puncture and he limped back to the pits at the end of lap 19 before the team decided to retire him.
LOVELY BUBBLY ... Sebastian Vettel drenches title rival Fernando Alonso with champagne
McLaren were the first of the bigger teams to show their hand in terms of their pitstop strategy by bringing in Button at the end of the 25th lap.
His stop was smooth while Hamilton came in at the end of lap 32 and received a new steering-wheel on top of the new tyres.
Vettel pitted a lap later and when the procession clicked back into place.
He still led Webber and then Alonso, while Hamilton was in fourth place ahead of Button.
Alonso was given a greater incentive to challenge Webber when the Aussie radioed to his pits on lap 47 to tell them he had no KERS.
The electronic device gives a driver an 80 horsepower boost for a limited amount of time and Alonso certainly made that extra powercount on the 48th lap.
Alonso sold Webber a dummy to the right and then darted to left, and with a press of the KERS button, he zoomed past his rival and into second place.
Webber was now a sitting duck and Hamilton behind him smelt blood and set about hunting him down.
Webber's woes were pale insignificance when Vettel’s car was shown with sparks flying out from underneath it as the floor made contactw ith the surface.
It made for some anxious faces on the Red Bull pit-wall while it had not escaped the attention of Ferrari, who passed the information on to Alonso.
It made for a thrilling finale to this race, which had threatened to be a drab affair, but Vettel clung on to snatch the chequered flag while Webber just held on to take third.
