Redbull's Sebastian Vettel victorious at inaugural Indian GP

Sebastian Vettel drove a flawless race

World champion Sebastian Vettel won the first ever Indian grand prix in style and registered his 11th win this season. Redbull’s champion driver started from the pole position and led in all the 60 laps till the end of the race. His nearest rival McLaren’s Jenson Button was 8.4 secs lower than Vettel. Ferrari‘s Fernando Alonso finished third whereas Redbull’s Mark Webber had to be contended with the fourth position.

Michael Schumacher finished fifth ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. A disappointed Lewis Hamilton had bad day on the track and ended with seventh position. Hamilton hit Massa in lap 24 while trying to overtake Massa for fifth position. Massa was handed over a drive through penalty whereas Hamilton changed the front wings after the incident. Massa was later out of the race because of a problem in his car’s front suspension. It is Hamilton’s third collision with Felipe in four races and sixth of the season.

India’s Narain Kartikeyan was able to finish the race with his HRT and came home with 17th position. Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta ended the race at no. 9 and 13 respectively.

The race started with Vettel making a clean start and retaining the pole position. But Jenson Button went past of Alonso and pushed Alonso to fourth spot. Later Alonso took advantage of Webber’s faulty pit strategy and captured the third place. A lot of competition was display as Webber made frantic efforts to get past Alonso to recapture the position but all the efforts failed. Fernando cling to the third position till the end.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar waved the chequered flag while the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the state in which the Buddh International Circuit is situated presented the trophies to the winners.

It was a brilliant beginning for the Formula One in India as the organisers managed to hold the event successfully.

2011 Airtel Indian Grand Prix Full Results:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Pts
1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	Winner	25
2	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	+8.4 secs	18
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+24.3 secs	15
4	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	+25.5 secs	12
5	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	+65.4 secs	10
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+66.8 secs	8
7	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+84.1 secs	6
8	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	+1 Lap	4
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	+1 Lap	2
10	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	+1 Lap	1
11	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	+1 Lap
12	Bruno Senna	Renault	+1 Lap
13	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	+1 Lap
14	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	+2 Lap
15	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	+2 Lap
16	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	+3 Lap
17	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	+3 Lap
18	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	+3 Lap
19	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	+5 Lap
Ret	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+28 Laps
Ret	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	+36 Laps
Ret	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	+48 Laps
Ret	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	+58 Laps
Ret	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	+ secs

Drivers’ Standings:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Pts
1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	Winner	25
2	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	+8.4 secs	18
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+24.3 secs	15
4	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	+25.5 secs	12
5	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	+65.4 secs	10
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+66.8 secs	8
7	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+84.1 secs	6
8	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	+1 Lap	4
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	+1 Lap	2
10	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	+1 Lap	1
11	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	+1 Lap
12	Bruno Senna	Renault	+1 Lap
13	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	+1 Lap
14	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	+2 Lap
15	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	+2 Lap
16	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	+3 Lap
17	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	+3 Lap
18	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	+3 Lap
19	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	+5 Lap
Ret	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+28 Laps
Ret	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	+36 Laps
Ret	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	+48 Laps
Ret	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	+58 Laps
Ret	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	+ secs

Constructors’ Standings:

Pos	Team	Points
1	RBR-Renault	595
2	McLaren-Mercedes	442
3	Ferrari	325
4	Mercedes	145
5	Renault	72
6	Force India-Mercedes	51
7	Sauber-Ferrari	41
8	STR-Ferrari	41
9	Williams-Cosworth	5
10	Lotus-Renault	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0