ELEVEN AND COUNTING FOR VETTEL IN INDIA

Mr Ecclestone’s quest to take Formula 1 into uncharted waters continued this weekend, this time with a trip to the hustling, bustling and spectacular India. The Buddh International Circuit received a universal thumbs up from the drivers who loved the high speed natural flowing nature of the layout. The organisers seemed to have avoided making a generic, purpose-built track and created something interesting for both the drivers and the spectators. In spite of the circuit being shrouded in smog throughout the course of the weekend and the track being coated in a layer of dust, the track proved to be fast and quite grippy and a great track to demonstrate the performance of the cars and drivers to the newly discovered fans.

The race started with Vettel on pole for the thirteenth time this year and his team mate Webber alongside on the front row. Vettel made a good start, but Webber had a slightly better one, thinking about making a move at the first corner but deciding against it. Alonso made a great start as well but out-braked himself and ran a little wide, allowing Button to slip through. Button then got a great tow down the long back straight and overtook Webber as well.

Hamilton by contrast, found himself back in sixth behind the two Ferraris at the end of the first lap. Webber immediately started applying pressure to Button and on lap five had a great tow and attempted to go around the outside at the hairpin. Button was not about to lose a position that easily and ran the gritty Aussie out of road at the exit. Whilst they squabbled over second place, Vettel had started to run away at the front and had increased his lead to nearly five seconds by lap eight, much as he has done at most races this year.

The best action at this stage was provided by the two Torro Rossos – they’d been on great form all weekend and made short work of getting ahead of the Renault of Senna. Back towards the front, Button had fended off Webber and started to string together a couple of fastest laps to begin to reel Vettel in. The Red Bull seemed to be using up tyres a lot quicker than Button’s McLaren with the Englishman reeling Vettel in at the end of each stint.

On lap 25, the near inevitable Hamilton-Massa clash came when Hamilton tried to pass Massa and didn’t get himself fully alongside. Massa meanwhile either didn’t see him or didn’t care and turned into the corner, pitching himself into a spin and off the track. Unusually it was Massa who was given a drive through penalty for his troubles. He then retired with suspension failure a few laps later, having walloped one of the kerbs a little too hard. Probably not one of his favourite race weekends. Further back, Schumacher was having a great race, catching his team mate who’d started five places in front of him and running at a very competitive pace – he would finish one place ahead of him in fifth.

The second round of pit stops came around lap forty, with Webber the first to put on the slower harder tyres. Fernando Alonso, who had been catching Webber, stayed on the softer tyres for another couple of laps and was able to pass him during the pit stops to get himself into a podium position. Once again at the end of this stint, Button seemed able to extract more performance from his tyres than Vettel. Button pitted on lap 47 and when Vettel pitted a lap later, Button had taken around two and a half seconds out of Vettel’s lead. It didn’t stay that way for long though – Vettel began to ease out a lead again as soon as his tyres were back up to temperature.

With the top two positions seemingly set to stay as they were until the finish, attention turned to the battle for the last podium place. Webber began to close up towards the Ferrari of Alonso and with a couple of laps to go, looked as though he had a chance of taking back his podium spot. Unfortunately for him and the spectators, it didn’t quite materialise, thanks in no small part to a less than helpful HRT driver resolutely refusing to get out of his way as he pursued the Spaniard.

So it was Vettel again taking the race win – his eleventh this year - with Button the only man with a hope of getting near him. Not a belter of a race by any stretch of the imagination but Vettel did pick up another record, this time for the most number of laps in the lead over a single season. Even allowing for the increase in the number of races over the last few years and the fact that Red Bull have built a great car, what Vettel has achieved this year has been nothing short of brilliant. With just two races left, time is running out for anyone else hoping to reach the top step of the podium – they’ll have to pull something magical out of the bag to have a chance.