It’s always special the first time and the Indian GP at the Buddh international
circuit was just as special. The Indian Grand Prix, an event many years in the making
finally made history. And taking top honours in this momentous occasion was none other
than the already double world champion Sebastian Vettel. The 24 year old German romped on
to his 11th victory of the 2011 season. But it wasn’t easy for sure.
As the lights went out Vettel sprinted to the lead at the start and worked very hard to build a field, which he then controlled as he led every lap. That left Webber squabbling with Button who had pulled a fast one on Webber at the very first corner. There was more action at the back as Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa added a little spice to proceedings by coming together for the fourth time this season. Further back, the chaos predicted for turn three arrived early as Rubens Barrichello clipped the back of Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado and, in then having to move left, collected Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver, having been forced into the run-off, opted to rejoin as directly as possible, straight into the path of the hapless Timo Glock. Kobayashi was out on the spot, while Glock made a pit-stop for repairs before also having to call it a day.
The order at the front was shuffled further on the opening lap when Button drafted past Webber on the run to turn four, cementing himself in second place despite the Australian attempting to come back at him, and touching wheels with the McLaren, a couple of laps later. Hamilton, meanwhile, had lost a place to nemesis Massa off the line and continued to run in sixth through the first ten laps, with the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, the latter after another fast start trying to keep up with the McLaren.
As with previous incidents between the pair, who stood together at the one-minute silence for Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli but still don't speak, the stewards decided that their intervention was needed but, this time, it was Massa who copped the penalty, dropping him to seventh just as Hamilton passed Jaime Alguersuari for eighth. Even though the Ferrari driver was reporting gearbox problems, there was no chance for battle to be rejoined as, having pitted for hard Pirelli and a new front wing, he clipped a kerb and broke his front suspension for the second time.
Jaime Alguersuari drove another excellent race for Toro Rosso to take eighth and the team should have had ninth too, but Sebastien Buemi’s STR06 dropped out with mechanical problems after they had caught and passed Adrian Sutil’s Force India. The German thus took ninth after a race-long fight with Sergio Perez’s Sauber and Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, while Bruno Senna was 12th after a late tyre stop ahead of Force India’s Paul di Resta, who was delayed after being in the fight with Perez and Petrov.
With Hamilton and Massa out of the equation, the battle for fifth boiled down to a
scrap between the two Mercedes, with Schumacher having moved ahead of Rosberg in the
closing stages after delaying his second stop as long as possible. Having opened enough of
a gap to give his crew a cushion, the seven-time champion was able to resume without
losing a position, edging him closer to his team-mate in the overall standings after
climbing from eleventh on the grid. Rosberg, meanwhile, had a big gap over the recovering
Hamilton, who came home as the last unlapped runner.
Behind the subdued Briton, who has two races to regain the spark that made him the most exciting man in F1 in recent seasons, Alguersuari added to Toro Rosso's increasingly impressive tally, and benefited from Bruno Senna having to make a late stop to comply with the tyre rules to bring the Italian squad level with Sauber in the constructors' standings. STR also edged closer to Force India in the battle for sixth, despite the under-pressure Adrian Sutil gaining another couple of points for ninth, and would have moved clear of Sauber had Perez not made the most of his opening lap tyre change to claim the final scoring position.
Di Resta was a disgruntled 13th after his strategy failed to play out, while Heikki Kovalainen came home two laps down after being badly delayed by both HRTs while trying to keep ahead of the leaders in the closing laps. The Finn remained ahead of Barrichello, while Jerome d'Ambrosio salvaged Marussia Virgin's weekend by overhauling the HRTs that had run ahead of him early on. Trulli rejoined after his first lap squabble, but struggled with floor damage on his Lotus before pitting a lap from the end. Narain Kartikeyan drove quite a sober race but managed to finish in 17th place ahead of team-mate Ricciardo and Jarno trulli in the Lotus-Renault.
Button’s second place was the same position for McLaren in the constructor’s championship which is followed by Ferrari, Mercedes and Sauber-Ferrari with Force India in a strong sixth. That apart it was a historic and symbolic moment for the country and is for sure a sign of better things for Indian Motorsport
As the lights went out Vettel sprinted to the lead at the start and worked very hard to build a field, which he then controlled as he led every lap. That left Webber squabbling with Button who had pulled a fast one on Webber at the very first corner. There was more action at the back as Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa added a little spice to proceedings by coming together for the fourth time this season. Further back, the chaos predicted for turn three arrived early as Rubens Barrichello clipped the back of Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado and, in then having to move left, collected Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver, having been forced into the run-off, opted to rejoin as directly as possible, straight into the path of the hapless Timo Glock. Kobayashi was out on the spot, while Glock made a pit-stop for repairs before also having to call it a day.
The order at the front was shuffled further on the opening lap when Button drafted past Webber on the run to turn four, cementing himself in second place despite the Australian attempting to come back at him, and touching wheels with the McLaren, a couple of laps later. Hamilton, meanwhile, had lost a place to nemesis Massa off the line and continued to run in sixth through the first ten laps, with the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, the latter after another fast start trying to keep up with the McLaren.
As with previous incidents between the pair, who stood together at the one-minute silence for Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli but still don't speak, the stewards decided that their intervention was needed but, this time, it was Massa who copped the penalty, dropping him to seventh just as Hamilton passed Jaime Alguersuari for eighth. Even though the Ferrari driver was reporting gearbox problems, there was no chance for battle to be rejoined as, having pitted for hard Pirelli and a new front wing, he clipped a kerb and broke his front suspension for the second time.
Jaime Alguersuari drove another excellent race for Toro Rosso to take eighth and the team should have had ninth too, but Sebastien Buemi’s STR06 dropped out with mechanical problems after they had caught and passed Adrian Sutil’s Force India. The German thus took ninth after a race-long fight with Sergio Perez’s Sauber and Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, while Bruno Senna was 12th after a late tyre stop ahead of Force India’s Paul di Resta, who was delayed after being in the fight with Perez and Petrov.
With Hamilton and Massa out of the equation, the battle for fifth boiled down to a
scrap between the two Mercedes, with Schumacher having moved ahead of Rosberg in the
closing stages after delaying his second stop as long as possible. Having opened enough of
a gap to give his crew a cushion, the seven-time champion was able to resume without
losing a position, edging him closer to his team-mate in the overall standings after
climbing from eleventh on the grid. Rosberg, meanwhile, had a big gap over the recovering
Hamilton, who came home as the last unlapped runner.Behind the subdued Briton, who has two races to regain the spark that made him the most exciting man in F1 in recent seasons, Alguersuari added to Toro Rosso's increasingly impressive tally, and benefited from Bruno Senna having to make a late stop to comply with the tyre rules to bring the Italian squad level with Sauber in the constructors' standings. STR also edged closer to Force India in the battle for sixth, despite the under-pressure Adrian Sutil gaining another couple of points for ninth, and would have moved clear of Sauber had Perez not made the most of his opening lap tyre change to claim the final scoring position.
Di Resta was a disgruntled 13th after his strategy failed to play out, while Heikki Kovalainen came home two laps down after being badly delayed by both HRTs while trying to keep ahead of the leaders in the closing laps. The Finn remained ahead of Barrichello, while Jerome d'Ambrosio salvaged Marussia Virgin's weekend by overhauling the HRTs that had run ahead of him early on. Trulli rejoined after his first lap squabble, but struggled with floor damage on his Lotus before pitting a lap from the end. Narain Kartikeyan drove quite a sober race but managed to finish in 17th place ahead of team-mate Ricciardo and Jarno trulli in the Lotus-Renault.
Button’s second place was the same position for McLaren in the constructor’s championship which is followed by Ferrari, Mercedes and Sauber-Ferrari with Force India in a strong sixth. That apart it was a historic and symbolic moment for the country and is for sure a sign of better things for Indian Motorsport
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