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Formula 1

Christopher Bruce2012-10-28 09:27:03

Vettel Leads Every Lap of Indian Grand Prix

 
 
Slideshow
Vettel leads the points race and may be world champion

Sebastian Vettel has led every lap ever at the Indian Grand Prix. Not just this year, but last year too. Vettel started from pole and never gave up the lead for the entire 60 laps. Behind him there was not particularly a lot of action either. Fernando Alonso fought through three-quarters of the race to pass Mark Webber for second place. Webber, despite a broken KERS system, finished third. With Webber's KERS problems, McLaren told Hamilton to push to pass him in the last 10 laps, but Hamilton was not able to make up the gap and finished fourth. 

The start of the race had immediate action. Fernando Alonso and the two McLarens went three wide into the second corner. Alonso slowed, and Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton nearly collided. On the next corner Alonso was able to get around Hamilton. Amid all of the action at the front of the pack Jean-Eric Vergne broke his front wing by hitting Michael Schumacher's right rear tire, which caused a puncture. 

A few laps later, Alonso was able to get around Hamilton to take third position; he was still nearly five seconds behind Mark Webber in second and about eight seconds behind Sebastian Vettel in first by lap 16. Alonso reeled Webber in through the rest of the race. Alonso was about 1.7 seconds behind the Australian with 26 laps into the race. Following their pit stops, Alonso closed up to less than a second Webber. With 13 laps to go the big battle on track was still Alonso and Webber. Webber's car stopped charging its KERS system, which gave Ferrari a slight advantage. Alonso made the pass using the DRS on lap 48 to bring him into second. 

Many drivers are probably wishing that points were scored based on flat tires. In addition to Schumacher, Sergio Perez made contact with Daniel Ricciardo on lap 20, which resulted in a right rear puncture for Perez and a bent wing for Ricciardo. Perez damaged the car on the way to the pits and pulled the car into the garage. Later, Kamui Kobayashi hit Pastor Maldonado to puncture his right rear tire. When Maldonado re-entered the track, he was just in front of Vettel who nearly collided into the back of Maldonado. 

The other major off of the race came from Pedro de la Rosa who spun and hit the wall backwards at the end of the long straight on lap 45. 

It was Vettel's race for the entire time. By lap 25, Vettel has pulled out a 10 second lead over Mark Webber, and the gap stayed roughly that long for the duration. 

Finally, in the last five laps there was some excitement. The legality plank began scraping the ground. It was unclear whether there was a problem with Vettel's suspension. If it is too thin, it could cause Vettel's win to be vacated. After the race, the team determined that it was a skid block and not the legality plank. 

With just two laps to go, Michael Schumacher pulled the Mercedes into the garage after having an abysmal race. 

Felipe Massa ran out of fuel after the checkered flag. 

Sebastian Vettel has come back in the last portion of the season like a bat out of hell. He has won the last three races in a row after scoring just one other win this season.

Vettel's championship lead has grown to 13 points over Alonso. The championship is still undecided with three races left. The next round will be the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 

2012 Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix Results
Position Driver Team
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
3 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari
7 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault
10 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault
11 Nico Rosberg Mercedes
12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes
13 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari
14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Mercedes
15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault
17 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault
18 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault
19 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth
20 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth
21 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth
22 (DNF) Michael Schumacher Mercedes
23 (DNF) Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth
24 (DNF) Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari

2012 Formula 1 Drivers' Points Standings
Position Driver Points
1 Sebastian Vettel 240
2 Fernando Alonso 227
3 Kimi Raikkonen 173
4 Mark Webber 167
5 Lewis Hamilton 165
6 Jenson Button 141
7 Nico Rosberg 93
8 Romain Grosjean 90
9 Felipe Massa 89
10 Sergio Perez 66
11 Kamui Kobayashi 50
12 Nico Hulkenberg 49
13 Paul di Resta 44
14 Michael Schumacher 43
15 Pastor Maldonado 33
16  Bruno Senna 26
17 Jean-Eric Vergne 12
18 Daniel Ricciardo 9

2012 Formula 1 Constructors' Points Standings
Position Constructor Points
1 Red Bull-Renault 407
2 Ferrari 316
3 McLaren-Mercedes 306
4 Lotus-Renault 263
5 Mercedes 136
6 Sauber-Ferrari 116
7 Force India-Mercedes 93
8 Williams-Renault 59
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 21

 

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Red BullRed Bull
RB8RB8
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