Sebastian Vettel clinched his fourth consecutive world title with a victory in the Indian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver drove a perfect race to secure his sixth consecutive victory this season and become only the fourth man in history to win four titles. Vettel joins legends Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.
Fernando Alonso had to finish in the top two to have any chance of taking the championship to the next race in Abu Dhabi next weekend. But those hopes were over by the first corner, when Alonso was clipped by Mark Webber, who was knocked sideways by Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus. The touch damaged Alonso’s front wing, and he had to stop for a new one on lap two, wrecking Ferrari’s strategy of starting on the harder ‘medium’ tyre and running a long first stint. He fought back to 11th place.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took second place, ahead of the Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, who did a one-stop race. The Frenchman caught his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen with four laps to go, and passed his team-mate at Turn Four but had to give up the place again because he completed the move by running off the track.
Raikkonen then let him by between the final two corners after being told to let Grosjean by. The Finn, struggling to get his tyres to the end after stopping on lap seven, was then immediately demoted to fifth place by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
Raikkonen lost two further places to McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the Englishman also being passed by Perez in the same move, before the Lotus driver finally had to give up on his tyres and make a late pit stop.
Perez finished fifth ahead of Hamilton in by far his best performance for McLaren, and one that may secure his future at the team next season.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h31:12.187 2. Rosberg Mercedes + 29.823 3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 39.892 4. Massa Ferrari + 41.692 5. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 43.829 6. Hamilton Mercedes + 52.400 7. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 1:07.900 8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:12.800 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:14.700 10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:16.200 11. Alonso Ferrari + 1:18.200 12. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1:18.900 13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 14. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap 15. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 16. Bottas Williams-Renault + 1 lap 17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps 18. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps 19. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 6 laps