Sunday, October 30, 2011 – The first ever Indian F1 Grand Prix turned into a Vettel one-man show, the German double world champion taking victory from pole. It was a perfect Grand Prix for the champion who also clocked the fastest lap of the race.

For his 79th start, the German won for the 21st time. This is also his 11th win of the season, matching Schumacher’s 2002 season record. Only Schumacher’s 2004 season was more successful in F1 history with 13 wins. Red Bull clinched the constructors’ championship in Korea at the track where neither car finished in 2010. Red Bull won its 26th Grand Prix today.

Today with Jenson Button’s second position, McLaren clinched second in the constructors’ championship. Vettel meanwhile took another record at the end of lap 42, surpassing Nigel Mansell’s 1992 record for most laps led in a season, leading his 693rd lap in 2011. At the end of lap 49 Vettel became the first man in history to lead 700 laps in one year. Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion has only led 617 laps in his career.

Vettel set the first grand slam of his career today (win/pole/fastest lap/led every lap). It is only the second grand slam in the last seven years. Vettel is also the youngest man to set a grand slam, and is the second driver in history to win as many as 10 races in one year. Only Schumacher who finished fifth in today’s race had a better result (11 wins in 2002, 13 in 2004).

The fresh double world champion started the race from pole with team mate Mark Webber next to him, Alonso and Button behind. Button went on to finish the race second ahead of Alonso. Alonso finishes higher than he started for the first time in 10 races, but he has scored in 16 races this season, better than any other driver but Vettel (17 out of 17). Mark Webber ended fourth ahead of Schumacher and Rosberg while Hamilton, who had trouble with Massa finished in seventh. Webber dropped positions on the opening lap for the eleventh race this season and was led from start-to-finish by Vettel for the twelfth time in 2011. Alguersuari is a strong eighth position finish ahead of Sutil and Perez who clocks one point for Sauber.

The losers of the race are Lotus Renault’s Petrov and Senna in 11th and 12th position. Massa, Buemi, Maldonado, Glock, Kobayashi are the five non finishers of this first ever Indian Grand Prix.

Details: lap by lap

There was strong sunshine on the track for the start of the first ever Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit near New Dehli Grand Prix, round 17 of the FIA F1 World Championship, planned for 60 laps. The formation lap begins at the Buddh International Circuit and Vettel leads the pack away from the grid.

It’s a perfect start for the pole man Vettel who keeps the advantage. But Jenson Button jumps to second position and Webber comes third while Alonso recovers after going wide and takes fourth ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa.

Glock has been changed from 24 on the provisional grid to 22nd on the official starting grid, after the Virgin team lobbied the FIA following the provisional line-up showing him in last. In the middle of the pack Barrichello and Kobayashi have contact. Meanwhile a few other collisions on the track with Kobayashi having to stop at turn three as a consequence of the accident. Perez and Glock are into the pits at the end of the opening lap, while Kobayashi is off to the side of the road and out of the race.

Barrichello missed his braking point for Turn 1 and nudged into the back of team-mate Maldonado. Later, the Brazilian drives back into pits and takes on a new front wing. Rosberg is seventh in his Mercedes, with team-mate Schumacher cutting through the accidents to eighth. McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes teams have their drivers completing the top eight and Vettel is leading the pack, scoring fastest lap 1.31.308. On lap 10, Vettel is 4.8s ahead of Button who scores fastest lap with 1.31.070.

Mark Webber is in third with Alonso and Massa on his marks. Hamilton, Rosberg and Schumacher follow while Sutil is ninth and the two Toro Rossos are respectively 10th for Alguersuari and 11th for Buemi. Local hero Karthikeyan is 19th ahead of D’Ambrosio, Barrichello and Trulli. Glock and Kobayashi are the two first drivers to have retired. Williams’ Pastor Maldonado retires for the fifth time in 2011, tied with Schumacher and Kovalainen for the most. Maldonado’s retirement promotes Kovalainen to 13th and Ricciardo to 14th, but the di Resta train is about to come through and change all that.

The first pit stops come on lap 15. Force India’s Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil both stop for the first time and are followed by Hamilton, Alonso and Webber on lap 16. Webber has resumed ahead of Schumacher, while Alonso slots in behind the Mercedes. On lap 18, Button comes in for his change of tyres. On lap 19, it is Vettel’s turn to stop. Vettel rejoins in the lead. He is on fresh tyres with a comfortable advantage over Button and Webber. His next lap is 1.30.058 and the champion clocks fastest lap 1.30.058. As for him, Hamilton’s pace improves in this stint, clocking a 1m30.194s effort that is close to leader Vettel’s pace. Bruno Senna also rejoins after stoping in the pits on lap 22, as Massa goes wide.

Senna rejoins from his stop in 14th – just 2.3s clear of Kovalainen. The pair will continue their developing battle. On lap 25, sadly Buemi stops after an engine failure.

The previous lap, on lap 24, Brazilian Felipe Massa has gone wide and Hamilton is now on the Ferrari’s gearbox – a pair with significant history of contact this season. Hamilton and Massa have collided at Monaco, Silverstone, Singapore and Japan this season. The following lap, Hamilton tries DRS on Massa into Turn 4 and then pokes the nose of the McLaren in at Turn 5. Contact was inevitable and both cars appear to have sustained some damage in what is sure to provoke further controversy. Stewards of the race announce an investigation into the incident. Massa is sentenced to a drive through penalty for causing a collision. Meanwhile,

Mid-race Vettel is still in the lead ahead of Button, Webber with Alonso in fourth. Meanwhile, Massa has done his drive through penalty and also made a pit stop the next lap, rejoining in 11th. But shortly after that, he must retire in the grass with a broken left front wheel suspension.

On lap 33, vettel leads his 684th lap beating Michael Schumacher’s best ever single season total from 2004. Vettel went on to win ahead of Button and Alonso. Local hero Narain Karthikeyan cruised in 15th place, for most of the race, but finished in 17th position ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Vettel

Button

Alonso

Webber

Schumacher

Rosberg

Hamilton

Alguersuari

Sutil

Perez

Petrov

Senna

Di Resta

Kovalainen

Barrichello

D0ambrosio

Karthikeyan

Ricciardo

Trulli

DNF

Massa, Buemi, Maldonado, Glock, Kobayashi

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP AS THEY STAND

1 RED BULL 595

2 MCLAREN 442 (CLINCH 2ND PLACE TODAY)

3 FERRARI 325

4 MERCEDES GP 145

5 – Lotus Renault 72

drivers

sebastian Vettel 374

Jenson Button 240

Fernando Alonso 227

Mark Webber 221

Lewis Hamilton 202

Felipe Massa 98

Nico Rosberg 75

Michael Schumacher 70

Vitaly Petrov 36

Nick Heidfeld 34

Adrian Sutil 30

Kamui kobayashi 27

Jaime Alguersuari 26

Paul di resta 21