1-10 Vettel, Button, Alonso, Webber, Schumacher, Rosberg, Hamilton
Alguersuari Sutil Perez
1110 Incredible noise form inside the grand stand as Vettel stands atop
Kinky Kylie and is congratulated by his team mates. So race win for him,
pole position and fastest lap. The man’s unstoppable! Also confiemd that
McLaren have secured second place in the constructors championship.
Christian Horner to Vettel: “I wish you wouldn’t go that fast on
the final lap”
Vettel: “Incredible, fantastic challenge, we did it, enjoy the
moment.
Telegraph Sport F1 correspondent Tom Cary: “Having set fastest lap
on penultimate lap, Vettel asked to “bring it home”. So he goes
and sets fastest lap on last lap. #tooeasy
Final lap: Webber still pushing Alonso. Vettel told he has the fastest
lap and just be careful and “bring it home”. Final DRS zone not
enough for Webber to pass Alonso, and Vettel crosses the line to Sachin
Tendulkar waving the flag.
Lap 59 so as the race draws to a close what have you made of the
inaugural Indian Grand Prix? It started out fairly slowly but the track
looks impressive. Webber’s launching a final assault on Alonso but on those
hard tyres it’s just not going to happen and I think the Australian is going
to have to settle for fourth.
Vijesh MV on the emails: “Vettel……..what a race this has
been…….these guys made our inaugural race a magnificent one…..
Lap 58 three laps remaining then and do you think we’re going to see
any further change in position? No sooner to I write that but Senna pits and
so Sutil is up to 9th and perez is 10th.
Telegraph Sport F1 correspondent Tom Cary: “Battle of the Brits
update: JB will have a 38pt lead over LH with two races to go if things stay
as they are. #f1 #McLaren”
Lap 57 four laps to go and Karthikeyan, India’s only driver, drops to
17th. Vettel leads Button with Alonso in third, Webber fourth and Schumacher
fifth. Not sure Webber’s got enough in him to steal a podium place.
Lap 55 Looks like Sutil could be safe to hold on to 10th place as Perez
and Petrov drop further behind the Force India car. Cars starting to lape
eachother so here’s where traffic could cause problems. Vettel responsing to
Button and he’s done a 1:27:7 and his leads is up to 5.4 seconds.
Lap 53 not quite seeing how Hamilton is going to make a challenge, that
collision with Massa wrote his chances off I thinkit’s fair to say. Sutil
still holding on in 10th place. Stunning pictures coming from India as the
sun starts to set behind the circuit.
Lap 52 Schumacher told he is free to race with a once second lead on
his team-mate but warned “keep it clean”.
Lap 51 Schumacher pits and it wasn’t an ideal exit for the German who
locks on the first turn but remains ahead of Rosberg. Vettel’s lead is now
under four seconds.
Lap 49 Sutil Perez and Petrov batttling for 10th but the Force India
man holding on for the moment, his team-mate Di Resta is behind that fight
in 13th.
Lap 48 Vettel pits and emerges with no traffic around him and he still
leads the race with Button second and Alonso third. Hamilton still
struggling to move on the Mercedes duo in front of him.
1-5 Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Schumacher, Rosberg
Lap 47: Rosberg and Hamilton both pit for the hard tyres. Both emerge
from the pits and face no traffic. Button also pits.
Lap 44 Button continues to gain on Vettel though the gap remains just
over 4.5 seconds. Vettel’s got another record for most laps leading a race
in a season. That boy is re-writing F1 history it’s been a sensational
season for him, and he’s still only 24-years-old. Unbelievable.
Lap 43 Alonso looking safe in 3rd place as Webber’s tyre slow him up
too much to challenge the Ferrari. Hamilton struggling to make a move on the
two Mercedes cards that stand between him and Webber. At the back Sutil
10th, with Perez and Petrov behind and Barrichello in 15th holding off the
challenge from Karthikeyan.
Lap 42 similarly to the last few races Button is starting to show
enough pace to make a move on Vettel, he just gained over a second on the
Red Bull driver and with 18 laps remaining…you never know, Vettel may just
get knocked off his perch.
Lap 40 Alonso pits and emerges ahead of Webber, crucial for the Italian
team who, if you’re just joining us, are down to one driver with Massa out
of the race with a broken suspension.
Lap 38 Red Bull ready for Webber to pit and he has been losing a lot of
time and he is back on the hard tyres…that’s a second slower than the
softs and so the Australian is going to struggle to hold position.
1-5 Vettel, Button, Alonso Webber, Rosberg
Climbers: Hamilton 7th, Sutil 10th Di Resta 14th Karthikeyan has
climbed to 16th
Retirements so far: Kobayashi, Glock, Maldonado, Massa, Buemi
Lap 36: Schumacher told pace is very good and warned about dangers of
orange kerbs given what has just happened to Massa.
Charlie Whiting on Twitter:
“Felipe’s physio has selected an elegant black handbag with silver trim
for Felipe’s post race Lewis slap #F1
Lap 35 seems it is nothing to do with the incident with Hamilton it’s
the exact same problem he had in qualifying yesterday, very disappointing
for Ferrari, though at least we’ll get to hear Massa’s thoughts on Hamilton
sooner than expected.
Lap 34 Sutil is up to 9th and has Hamilton ahead if he wants to pick up
another place. Felipe Massa’s race is over his car’s suspension is
broken.
Here’s the state of Kobayashi’s car on the first turn of the race.
Allan Barnes back on the emails, and I agree with you, I don’t think
Hamilton is finished just yet, we’re only just at the half-way mark. I
backed the Briton to win at the start of this blog so let’s see what he has
in store for us.
“At least he makes it look like a race..he’s not finished yet..
Lap 31: Massa serves his penalty immediately. Hamilton has climbed to
8th. Elsewhere, Di Resta has slipped to 16th, Sutil is 10th and Karthikeyan
is 18th
1-5 Vettel, Button, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg
Lap 30 drive through penalty for Massa for causing an incident. Hoping
they radio in on the Ferrari driver when he is given that news. Right call
from the stewards do you think?
1-5 Vettel, Button, Webber, Alonso Massa
Telegraph Sport F1 correspondent Tom Cary:
“Ham v Mas incident under investigation. My first thought was Massa
turned into him..but maybe that’s British bias?? Round of applause in media
centre as Mr Bean grimaces while watching Hamilton v Massa collision. But
seriously, what is it with those two?”
Lap 28 looks like Massa is having gear box problems and his race is
going from bad to worse. Hamilton meanwhile is climbing and has Alguersuari
in his sights for 8th place. Alonso now the fastest driver on the track.
Lap 27 after all that here’s the running order: what a race so far, I
take back my moans of a lack of action after 10 laps!
1-12 Vettel, Button, Webber, Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher,
Alguersuari, Hamilton, Sutil, Perez, Petrov
Lap 26 both Massa and Hamilton remain in the race. Another retirement
and Buemi is out so to all of you gunning for Sutil, he has gained another
place and is now 10th. Incident between Massa and Hamilton is under
investigation…I smell another penalty for Lewis?
Lap 24-25 oh here we go again with Hamilton and Massa! They’ve collided
and Hamilton has over taken and it looks like both cars have picked up
extensive damage! Hamilton came up the inside of Massa, had the line.
Incredible facial expressions from Rowan Atkinson if you have your screens
on. Hamilton has pitted and my my Massa is going to have a few choice words
for the McLaren driver at the end of this race.
Lap 23 Lewis Hamilton starting to make his move. He’s got Massa in his
sights to challenge for fifth. Latest on Sutil, I know alot of you are
wondering, he is currently in 11th and closing in on Buemi
Lap 22 if you’re just joining us, it’s no great surprise to learn that
Vettel is leading the race with Button behind and Webber third. There have
been three retirements, Kobayashi, Glock and Maldonado.
Lap 21 Hamilton has lapped Barrichello, there you go, that’s about the
most interesting thing to say about his race so far this afternoon. Front
order remains the same.
A couple of weeks ago I had email accusing me of “loving Lewis Hamilton
too much and it being an unfair report” [quite untrue], this week it’s
the opposite.
Allan Barnes emails to say:
Is Lewis in the race you haven’t mentioned him…..another biased reporter????
Allan quite simply, Hamilton hasn’t really challenged the front, he has no-one
challenging him, he is in no-mans land at the moment but I will endeavour to
bring you more news on him.
Arni in Hong Kong emails to say
“I would love to see Hong Kong host a GP. If you have not been here, you
would be unable to see how it could be done, but we have the roads, the big
event organising skills and the money.
1-5 Vettel, Button Webber, Alonso, Massa
Lap 18 Alonso has overtaken Schumacher, Button is coming into pit and
Hamilton already has.
Lap 17 Schumacher and Alonso on Webber’s tail for fifth place but this
is very bad news for Alonso, Schumacher holding him up and the Ferrari
driver is losing a lot of time. Massa and Rosberg pit.
1-5 Vettel, Button, Massa, Rosberg, Webber
Lap 16 Vettel remains 4.3 seconds ahead and he is the fastest man on
the track battling with Button for speed. Mark Webber pits and Ferrari and
McLaren look likely to come in.
Lap 15 running order ramains the same and the action at the moment is
for 14th where Di Resta has suddently come into the battle with Perez and
Petrov.
Timo Glock:
I had a good start but it looks like Kobayashi spun off and came back into the
track right in front of me and I had not option.”
Lap 13 well it’s all gone wrong for Maldonado, he’d been in such a good
position to challenge for points this race but it seems technical problems
have ended his race, that’s the third retirement of the afternoon. Huge
shame for the Williams driver.
Lap 11 Maldonado told Senna has no KERS and to attack the Renault
driver. Wholehearted lack of overtaking and not a huge amount of excitement
in this race to now. Button is cutting Vettel’s lead down, the McLaren is
finding pace and his closest challenger Webber is slipping back.
Sachin Tendulkar arrives at the Buddh circuit, to a media mob
1-5 Vettel, Button, Webber, Alonso, Massa
Retirements: Kobayashi, Glock
Lap 10 no penalty for Kobayashi for the incident at the start of the
race anbd Senna on the radio saying he has no KERS
Lap 9 great tussling in the middle of the pack, Senne challenging
Alguersuari.
Lap 7 McLaren working on the basis that red Bull tyres will fade and
Button will shake off the threat from Webber.
Lap 6 Not the greatest of starts for Paul Di Resta, he is back in 18th.
The adopted golden child for the India fans from what I have understood. His
face is on giant billboards throughout Delhi. Vettel the fastest driver
1:31:83
Lap 5 error from Button he’s locked on a corner and Vettel is now
pulling further away (4.2 seconds). Great duelling between Button and Webber
for second with the McLaren driver holding his Red Bull rival off for the
moment.
Lap 3 Trulli also had to pit with a right rear puncture. Vettel is 2.7
seconds ahead of the pack. Great start from Senna, he’s gone from 14th to
10th. My apologies we have actually had two retirements, Glock
has just called it a day, seems the pit stop wasn’t enough to help his race
and Kobayashi is out.
Lap 2 Perez is in the pits from that contact at the start, huge debris
in the pits area, Barrichello and Glock are also in the pits. We may have
avoided losing any cars. Replays show Kobayashi was the man causing problems
at the back, very poor driving from him and it caused the three
aforementioned drivers into the pit. Maldonado was lucky not to have to pit.
First corner: All the front runners get through safe with no change of
order as it stands but yellow flags are out huge amount of contact at the
back and it looks like several drivers races may be over already. And things
have changed at the front…
1-5 Vettel, Button, Webber Alonso, Massa,
Here we go then…
0932 Two DRS zones on this circuit, should spice things up. All drivers
bar Perez and Petrov are on the softs options tyre.
0931 Drivers on their formartion lap, all eyes on Alonso’s car to see
if his team have corrected that front wing flap issue. They will hope to
have, the Indian crowd is a sea of red, huge numbers of Ferrari fans out
there.
‘Incredible India’, this is your moment.
0925 so just a few minutes to go before it all gets underway in India,
think we are in for a fantastic race and can you imagine the noise that will
be coming from those stands throughout the 60 laps. Time for some
predictions, you can’t help but feel Vettel is out to secure yet another win
but I think the McLaren duo are going to challenge him hard for the top
spot. So I’ll go Hamilton for the win, Vettel second and Button third.
Fantastic read here if you have a few minutes before the race gets underway,
Telegraph Sport’s Formula One correspondent Tom Cary spoke to Lewis Hamilton
about the dangers of F1. The McLaren driver says mortal
danger a fair price to pay for doing what he loves.
So, this is what Mr Ecclestone has to say ahead of the race start:
Bit chaotic but it’s nice, it’s super. Normally we organise this chaos but
this is on its own.”
0920 worrying scenes for Ferrari who have a problem with the front wing
flap of Fernando Alonso’s cars. Intricate work going on, but rest assured he
will start the race, the engineers have a good 10 minutes to get him sorted.
0915 very touching tribute playing on the BBC to Dan Wheldon (IndyCar)
and Marco Simoncelli (MotoGP), and silence falls on the grid.
0914 A number of drivers have paid their respects to the two riders who
lost their lives while racing in two successive weeks. Jenson Button and
Mark Webber, among others, will be wearing stickers on their helmets and
black armbands in honour of the two racers.
0912 Tweets coming from the pit area and media centre suggest that in
five minutes a one minute silence will be held to honour Dan Wheldon And
Marco Simoncelli.
0910 Huge excitement in the garages, especially from Nico Rosberg who
has met Indian cricket hero, Sachin Tendulkar:
“Wow. meeting Sachin tendulkar. The best cricketer ever!!”
0900: Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you may be joining me
from in the world. The countdown is finally over and India are ready for
their first ever grand prix. Many doubted they would be ready, and given
what happened in the run up to last year’s Commonwealth Games, could you
blame the sceptics? But following that fiasco, India have embraced their
opportunity for redemption and boy does it look like they have delivered.
Admittedly the media has been full of stories suggesting areas of ‘Sport
City’ as the site has become known, remain unfinished and unsightly, but the
track is ready, the stands are full, and the Buddh International Circuit is
gearing up for one hell of a party.
India in numbers:
- Circuit length: 5.137km/3.192miles
- Laps: 60
- Race distance: 308.22km/191.519miles
- Tyre compounds to be used: Hard/soft
- Gear changes: 54
- Average lap speed: 208kph (129.245mph)
- Number of corners: 16 (7 left/9 right)
How they start:
1st row
- Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull-Renault)
- Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull-Renault)
2nd row
- Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari)
- Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes)
3rd row
- Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes)
- Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari)
4th row
- Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes)
- Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India-Mercedes)
5th row
- Sebastien Buemi (SUI/Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
- Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
6th row
- Michael Schumacher (GER/Mercedes)
- Paul di Resta (SCO/Force India-Mercedes)
7th row
- Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Williams-Cosworth)
- Bruno Senna (BRA/Lotus-Renault)
8th row
- Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Williams-Cosworth)
- Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Lotus-Renault)
9th row
- Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber-Ferrari)
- Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Team Lotus)
10th row
- Jarno Trulli (ITA/Team Lotus)
- Sergio Perez (MEX/Sauber-Ferrari)
11th row
- Jerome d’Ambrosio (BEL/Virgin-Cosworth)
- Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Hispania-Cosworth)
12th row
- Narain Karthikeyan (IND/Hispania-Cosworth)
- Timo Glock (GER/Virgin-Cosworth)