India – Race: Four in a Row for Vettel

As earlier in the weekend, the weather is mild, despite the Indian haze already seen last year during the first visit of the Formula One Circus. The mercury, meanwhile, is still just as high, 30°C in the air and 36°C on the track.

On the strategy side, the debates seem to be splitting between one or two stops. The teams will need to make the Hard and Soft tires provided by Pirelli work properly. And coming out of the grid for the warm-up lap, only Grosjean, Kobayashi, Schumacher, and Ricciardo are on Hard tires. Lewis Hamilton is complaining about the quality of the radio transmission between his car and the McLaren pit, so the English team might have to rely solely on pit boards.

At the start, the Red Bulls are side by side, but Mark Webber, on the inside, allows Vettel to take the lead after the first corner. Just behind, the McLarens fight throughout the first sector but are suddenly overtaken by Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, creating a three-abreast situation in the long straight! But in the braking zone of turn 4, the chromed cars get back in front of the Spaniard, who manages to slip ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the following straight. Among the first lap casualties, Jean-Eric Vergne has to come in to change the front wing after colliding with Michael Schumacher at the start. The German suffers a puncture on a rear tire and comes in to fit a new set of Pirellis.

In the 4th lap, Fernando Alonso uses a longer 7th gear than Jenson Button to overtake him, with DRS open, on the back straight, and moves into 3rd place. By the end of this lap, the Spaniard is already 6 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel, who leads Mark Webber by 2.2 seconds. Behind Alonso, Button and Hamilton, Massa is in 6th, Räikkönen remains 7th ahead of Pérez, Hülkenberg, and Rosberg. Early in the race, Jenson Button becomes an easy target, overtaken on the back straight by his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who climbs to 4th position.

After 10 laps, the gaps continue to widen. Sebastian Vettel is still in the lead, ahead of Webber (+3.0), Alonso (+7.4), Hamilton (+11.0), Button (+13.2), Massa (+14.0), Räikkönen (+14.7), Pérez (+18.1), Hülkenberg (+19.4), and Rosberg (+23.7). The Force India driver is in a position to attack the Mexican for 8th place on the 13th lap, but his attempt fails. However, a lap later, he takes advantage of his DRS to pass on the long back straight before even reaching the braking zone. Surprisingly, the future McLaren driver is the first in the pits at the end of this same 15th lap for a tire change.

The spectators hold their breath as Romain Grosjean attacks Pastor Maldonado for the 11th position, once again on the straight leading to turn 4, but no contact ensues. Bruno Senna, a privileged observer of this battle, also takes the opportunity to overtake his teammate.

Curiously, some drivers manage to improve their lap times, and/or record better sectors: the wear of the Pirelli tires is therefore not very significant on the Buddh circuit. Thus Sebastian Vettel clocks the fastest lap in the 19th lap with a time of 1:31.109. Meanwhile, Sergio Pérez’s Sauber suffers a similar incident to Michael Schumacher’s at the start of the race: the front wing of a Toro Rosso – this time Daniel Ricciardo’s – cuts one of his rear tires. The Mexican has to limp back to the pits, to make what should be his last stop, and fits Hard tires. But the Sauber driver retires on the following lap, his Sauber apparently too damaged.

After 20 laps, the standings remain almost unchanged since only Sergio Pérez has dropped out of the top 10. The gaps, however, are wider: Webber is 5.2 seconds behind, Alonso 9.2 seconds, Hamilton 19.8 seconds, and Button 22.7 seconds. Romain Grosjean moves up to 9th by overtaking Nico Rosberg between turns 3 and 4, but this is over 40 seconds from the race leader. The Franco-Swiss driver is on an alternate strategy and might continue his climb once he switches to the Soft tires after mid-race. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is gradually gaining on Mark Webber: from 4 seconds behind on the 20th lap, the gap shrinks to 1.9 seconds after the 24th.

Jenson Button is therefore the first to make his single stop after 26 laps of the race, and he should be quickly followed by his counterparts. Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, does not seem ready to come in: his tires are fresh enough for him to set the fastest lap in the race again, the latest being 1:30.466. It takes until the 27th lap to see Kimi Räikkönen diving into the pit lane, followed by Rosberg, Maldonado, Senna, and Ricciardo. Upon exiting, the Venezuelan almost collides with Kamui Kobayashi, who arrives at full speed and overtakes him. Bruno Senna, meanwhile, had a near-miss at the entrance of the pit lane, nearly losing control of his Williams by going outside in the deceleration lane.

Massa stops on the following lap and comes out just behind Kimi Räikkönen, but with the DRS and the natural top speed of the Ferrari this weekend, the Brazilian passes his former teammate on the straight. Alonso is next in the pits at the end of the 29th lap. Webber, to defend his position, pits a lap later. The Australian comes out ahead of the Spaniard, but the gap is reduced, and the Ferrari driver can use his DRS. Meanwhile, the battle between Maldonado and Kobayashi continues, and slight contact before turn 5 causes a situation seen twice already during this race: the Venezuelan suffers a rear puncture. The incident is investigated by the stewards a few laps later, but ultimately results in no penalty.

Hamilton stops after 32 laps of racing and changes his steering wheel, possibly to fix his radio issues, and heads back out alone on the track in 4th place. Given the gaps, his race is likely to be limited to bringing the car home safely. Sebastian Vettel makes his stop a lap later and it is even the fastest, at 2.6 seconds. The battle for second place continues, but the native of Oviedo cannot get past. Further back, Felipe Massa is overconsuming fuel and must manage his fuel levels while holding off Kimi Räikkönen, who has spent most of the race tucked behind the Brazilian’s gearbox.

Romain Grosjean, not yet in the pits, is battling with Jenson Button, but he also manages to hold him off and stay – temporarily – 5th. The Franco-Swiss driver enters the pits after 36 laps, rejoining the track in 9th position, and will have the advantage of Soft tires for the final 24 laps while Michael Schumacher is under investigation for not respecting blue flags, an investigation that will be conducted after the race. The fastest on track is Lewis Hamilton: the 2008 World Champion sets the fastest lap of the race at 1:29.639, gradually catching up to Webber and Alonso, still battling, but with the gap extending beyond a second. However, the Englishman expresses concerns over the radio about his tire degradation.

After 40 laps, the standings are as follows: Vettel, Webber (+11.1), Alonso (+12.8), Hamilton (+19.3), Button (+29.9), Massa (+36.9), Räikkönen (+37.7), Hülkenberg (+44.8), Grosjean (+47.4), and Rosberg (+1:06.2). Further back, Charles Pic is in 18th place, 20 seconds ahead of Timo Glock.

The gap between Webber and Alonso continues to increase, reaching 2.3 seconds after the 43rd lap. “These are good laps, Mark,” indicates Ciaron Pilbeam, the Australian’s engineer, to his protégé. But the Ferrari driver responds in the next lap by setting his personal best lap of the race, and for good reason, Mark Webber indicates on the radio that his KERS is no longer functioning, but he is told it should come back. Pedro de la Rosa goes off at the end of the back straight, reportedly a victim of brake failure according to his own words. The yellow flag is deployed and the DRS is deactivated in this section of the circuit.

Meanwhile, the gap between Webber and Alonso has fallen to around a second. On the 48th lap, Fernando Alonso can open his DRS and pass on the outside before braking. He thus gains 3 valuable points in his fight for the championship against Sebastian Vettel, who remains in the lead, seemingly unnoticed by the FOM director. If the positions stayed as they are, the gap would be 13 points between the two double World Champions. In any case, the Spaniard sets the fastest lap of the race at 1:29.236. However, the gap is 11.3 seconds with 11 laps to go, and Vettel is probably not pushing to his limits.

Behind, Lewis Hamilton has closed to within 3 seconds of Mark Webber, whose KERS issues seem to be confirmed. Even further back, Rosberg and Senna are wheel to wheel for the last available point. The Brazilian overtakes on the 51st lap thanks to the DRS. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, closes to 2.1 seconds of Mark Webber, setting the fastest lap of the race at 1:29.352, but Jenson Button, isolated in 5th place, is even faster with a 1:28.889.

But with 7 laps to go, faces are tense in the Red Bull camp on the pit wall, and Christian Horner’s left foot starts to twitch: Sebastian Vettel’s splitter (the front part of the floor) seems damaged and is rubbing intensely, generating sparks at the end of the straight. Andrea Stella then radios Fernando Alonso to put pressure on his opponent by adopting a high pace. Nevertheless, with 5 laps to go, the gap is 9.8 seconds between the two drivers. And the Spaniard attacks too hard: he makes two consecutive mistakes, which bring the gap back to around 11 seconds.

On the other hand, the fight for the final podium spot is becoming clearer between Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton, with the gap just 1.2 seconds three laps before the end, and 1.0 two laps from the finish. But the Englishman takes it wide in turn 3 and narrowly misses passing the Australian at the end of the straight. The third place is thus contested in the last lap, but the 2008 World Champion is too far to attempt anything at the end of the straight.

Sebastian Vettel logically secures his fourth consecutive victory, ahead of his main rival Fernando Alonso and his teammate Mark Webber. The gap in the championship between the two drivers widens to 13 points with three races to go. Kimi Räikkönen, who spent the entire race in 7th place trailing Felipe Massa, is now 67 points behind and is almost out of the title race.

Results of the Indian Grand Prix – Sunday, October 28, 2012: