We’re yet to see him tested when the car is way off the pace but frankly, does
it matter? He’s joined Fangio, Prost and Schumacher in winning four world
titles – surely when the scale of the achievement becomes that great the
fact he is driving the fastest car should not detract from his achievement.
Elsewhere today Webber was typically unlucky, and it was entertaining to watch
Raikkonen “fall off the cliff” with his tyres and see his
team-mate and others cruise past him.
Even if Vettel hadn’t won, Alonso had an unusually poor afternoon, not even
making the points.
But there’s only one man, and one team today. Keep your eyes on Telegraph
Sport throughout the day for plenty of reaction and coverage.
11:30 In case you’re joining us late and missed bits of the race, here’s
a full report.
And The Telegraph’s Ollie
Brown comments that Vettel’s victory is “down to man not machine”.
Celebrations are in full swing in the Red Bull garage now.
11: 26 Coulthard asks Grosjean about his incident with Kimi – fair to
say I would love to hear the full radio transmission between those two and
the team. Hopefully it will emerge in due course. Uncensored.
Vettel says on the podium “this is one of the best days of my life so far”.
He jokes: “I don’t feel old yet, so achieve this much in such a short
space of time is amazing.”
11:25 Good spot from the Telegraph’s Ollie Brown:
Grosjean seems overjoyed with himself. “I wouldn’t have bet a penny (on
being on the podium)”. He qualified in 17th remember.
11:23 Vettel seems a little bit more than overwhelmed on the podium as
he talks to David Coulthard.
“I’m empty… I’m speechless”. He also says “it felt right”
to show the crowd some doughnutes. Damn right too.
He also says personally “it was very difficult” to receive boos. Not
a hint of boos on the podium today.
11:20 As he celebrates on the podium, we ask, is Sebastian Vettel the
greatest? Tweet or email me your thoughts, and have a look at what
some of his fellow drivers have to say.
11:18 And some reaction to Vettel’s win on Twitter, including his
brilliantly executed doughnuts.
11:16 Here’s the full top 10 from today’s race:
11:15 Who says Vettel doesn’t care? Looking more than a bit overwhelmed
with the scale of his achievement as he celebrates with his team, and then
has a moment to himself just before the podium.
11:12 This is what you like to see. Despite a fine that is bound to
come from the stewards, Vettel celebrates in front of the fans with some
perfectly executed doughnuts!
He bows down and worships his Red Bull car; and quite right too.
Then some rather comical attempts to throw his gloves into the crowd before
going back to celebrate with his team.
11:06 Horner rightly tells Vettel he “has joined the greats”.
Red Bull win the constructors too, if I forgot to mention that.
Hint of tears on the radio from the German.
“Rocky” in fine form says that after Raikkonen pitted for tyres on
the final lap that “he’s going to obliterate your fastest lap”.
Lap 60: What can you say. It’s his third win in a row in India, and his
tenth of the season. And he’s a four times world champion at 26.
Rosberg comes home second, Grosjean third, Massa fourth, and Perez is fifth.
SEASTIAN VETTEL WINS THE INDIAN GRAND PRIX, AND HIS FOURTH WORLD
TITLE!
Lap 59: I haven’t heard this, but apparently when Kimi was blocking
Grosjean the team came on the radio and said: “Get the BLEEP out of the
way.”
To which, in true iceman style, he replied: “Don’t shout.”
And we’re onto the final lap; bring on the Vettel eulogising.
Lap 58: Astonishing stuff from Raikkonen, Hamilton and Perez!
Hamilton holds back behind Kimi on the start finish straight, but then on the
long run to turn four Perez sweeps past the pair of them as they dart left
and right across the track.
Lap 57: Perez is still hustling Hamilton for sixth, but hasn’t yet
found a way past.
Raikkonen is dropping further and further down, in similar fashion to the
Chinese Grand Prix last year.
Lap 56: Hulkenberg is out of the race with a problem. And Romain
Grosjean is right on the back of Raikkonen! He goes around the outside into
turn four, and he’s shoved right off the track.
The Frenchman gives the place back, but then Raikkonen gives the place up
later in the lap after Romain remonstrates on team radio.
Lap 55: Grosjean has been taking around two seconds a lap out of
Raikkonen. I can’t imagine the Finn will simply wave his younger tem-mate
by.
Remember earlier in the season when Kimi announced he was leaving, Grosjean’s
reaction was: “He’s not very speaky.”
Lap 54: It seems to be very much of a case of containing Vettel’s speed
for Red Bull.
Rocky sternly tells him on the radio: “Don’t even think about it (going
for fastest lap).” Some of the cars behind have come out on the softer
tyres while he is on the harder compound.
Lap 53: Raikkonen’s attempt to go to the end on this set of tyres is
not looking good at all.
He did a 1:31.4 last time around, which is a good couple of seconds of the
leader’s pace.
At this rate his resurgent team-mate Romain Grosjean will be with him in a few
laps.
Seven to go for the Frenchman, and we have only seven laps to wait until
Vettel joins Alain Prost on four world titles.
Lap 52: The battle between the two Mercedes team-mates this season has
been an intruiging one.
Rosberg is very much on top today, and makes a very clean pass on Raikkonen to
move up to second, with Hamilton down in sixth.
Meanwhile Vettel is told by “Rocky” that he’s not allowed to use his
drinks bottle! Seems a bit unfair if you ask me.
But I’m sure there’s some technical reason behind that.
Lap 51: Not a lot to report from that lap I’m afraid.
Grosjean is fourth, Massa fifth, Hamilton sixth, Perez seventh. Alonso is
still tucked up behind Ricciardo.
Lap 50: “Rocky” calmly tells Vettel: “Your pace is good.
Keep it tidy.”
Really can’t see him throwing this one away at all. Kimi is 27 seconds behind
in second: can he hold on with this set of tyres?
Rosberg is the fastest man on the track and is taking huge chunks out of
Raikkonen’s lead in front of him.
Lap 49: Ricciardo goes wheel to wheel with Bottas into turn four!
Amazingly, the both emerge without any damage. And the Australian is
through.
And like the experienced campaigner he is, Alonso sneaks (as much as you can
sneak in an F1 car) past Bottas out of turn four.
Lap 48: I feel your pain at Webber’s departure from this race, George:
Lap 47: Amazingly Alonso is still down in 14th. There’s a decent train
of cars behind Sutil in 10th.
Lap 46: Classic Mark Webber interview. A few brief words in among some “yeeeaaaah”s,
and “eeeeerr”s, before a brief “cheers” and then walking
off.
Why wouldn’t you give your only interview to Lee McKenzie?
Lap 45: Both Force India’s are in the points at the moment, in what is
effectively their home race. We haven’t been able to say that many times
recently, as they’ve struggled since the tyres changed after Silverstone.
Lap 44: Vettel leads Raikkonen by 25 seconds. Rosberg is third, then
Grosjean fourth.
Webber seems in relatively good spirits, and he’s smiling away as he trundles
off to do his various media commitments.
Lap 42: Alonso remains in 14th. Battle for fifth between Massa and
Hamilton – this could spell trouble. They crashed here a couple of years
ago.
Because this race isn’t offering a huge amount in the way of action, here’s
their coming together in 2011:
Lap 41: Correction – it seems to have been an alternator problem. This
is something that has afflicted the Red Bull quite a few times before, so
it’s not all guaranteed that Vettel will finish this one.
I’m sure Christian Horner’s foot will be tapping very nervously.
Vettel leads Raikkonen by about 25 seconds, Rosberg is third.
And Sutil has finally come in for his soft tyres. He needs to do 18 laps on
these tyres – can he manage it for a strong points finish?
Lap 39: Mark Webber has to be the unluckiest man in Formula One! Some
catastrophic failure there – seems like a gearbox problem.
It all unfolded rather quickly from a worrying radio message to him parking
the car at the side of the road.
Lap 38: After 38 laps or so, Sutil is still going on the set of tyres
he started the race on.
He’ll need to manage maybe five or so more to be able to one-stop this race.
Lap 37: I’m not going to write it in bold and capped up yet, but both
the drivers and constructors championships look to be done. Meanwhile,
Ricciardo is chasing Massa for 7th.
It will be very interesting to see if he fares any better than his fellow
Australian Webber against Vettel next season.
Lap 36: My love-in for Jake Humphrey seems to have been premature. Even
when Vettel is winning, tedious doesn’t seem a fair description of F1 at the
moment:
I would say that, I suppose.
Lap 35: As the race moves into a slight lull, it’s a good chance to
reflect on what we’ve seen so far. And what we’ve seen is Vettel carving his
way through the field from 17th after stopping on lap two.
All the strategists had Webber winning this one, by around four or five
seconds, but somehow it hasn’t worked out. Sebastian Vettel seems the main
explanation for that.
Perez, Ricciardo and Sutil (currently third) are doing good jobs so far – it
will be interesting to see where they manage to end up.
Lap 34: Hamilton is hustling behind Ricciardo for 8th, but it’s not
worked out for him this time.
At just over half distance, Vettel leads comfortably.
Lap 33: 12.5 seconds! That’s the gap Vettel has on his team-mate. This
one seems to be in the bag, with 25 laps to go.
“Rocky” reminds Seb to take it easy, and that he needs his tyres for
the whole stint, after he put in a fastest lap.
Lap 32: Great battle between world champions Alonso and Button! Alonso
gets ahead on the long run to turn four, but Button sweeps back in front
down the inside.
He runs wide, however, and the Spaniard has the place. 13th that is.
And Webber is in! It’s not a race to the finish between him and Vettel, one
unfortunately I cannot see him win.
Lap 31: Unsurprisingly on his soft tyres, Webber is making inroads into
Vettel’s lead, but not for long! Vettel is in for his second pit stop.
He should go to the end from here. And the German has a huge amount of clear
track in front of him – excellent strategy from the Red Bull boys.
Lap 30: Perez, on the softer tyre, gets past the man he replaced at
McLaren (Lewis Hamilton), for 6th place. Different tyre strategies explain
that one, so all is not lost for the Brit, and he’s into the pits for his
second stop.
Lap 29: And Webber is in! He’s elected to come out on the softer “option”
tyre. Expect to see him put in about five or so banzai laps before coming
back in for the harder tyre. He’s in second place.
Still hard to see how he can engineer a way past Vettel this
morning/afternoon.
And Grosjean goes for what can only be a “double dummy” on
Guttierez. He’s on the radio sounding rather irate about the whole incident.
He’s still behind.
Lap 28: There’s not one, but two silver arrows hounding the back of
Felippe Massa for 6th. And Rosberg dives into the pits: can the Brit can get
past his old foe Massa?
Lap 26: Webber has a 10.8 second lead over his team-mate in second.
Christian Horner has just been speaking to the Beeb from the pit wall and
seems extremely relaxed as this race looks increasingly like a battle
between his two drivers.
Red Bull will win the constructors today as things stand as well.
Horner says Ben Edwards should know better than to ask whether there will be
team orders – I have a feeling neither driver would obey them anyway.
Lap 25: Bottas, Hulkenberg and Raikkonen are all dicing over 9th.
Hulkenberg sweeps past Bottas and claims he didn’t gain an advantage by
going off the track. We’ll see what the stewards have to say on that one.
Lap 24: Massa is currently 6th, with Rosberg chasing in 7th. This is
effectively the fight for the final podium place right now, and it would do
the Brazilian’s bid to find a drive in F1 next year no harm if he can make
an overdue return to the top three.
Lap 23: Kimi Raikkonen is told he needs to “cool the car on the
straights where possible”. Not sure how feasible that is when you’re
driving at 190 mph…
Lap 22: Webber’s lead over Vettel is 11 seconds – I can’t imagine the
German is going to be too worried about ruining his tyres to get past, as he
knows the Australian will be pitting before him.
Lap 21: And Vettel, after pitting on lap two, is now up to second
place. Perez did not fight him one bit.
Finally for Alonso he gets past Guttierez, and it’s a pretty brave move into
turn five. The Mexican leaves him a Ferrari-sized space on the inside, and
the Spaniard grabs it with both hands.
Lap 20: Alonso is in 14th and having a torrid time behind the Sauber of
Gutierrez. He did manage to get past, but then was immediately re-overtaken
by the young Mexican. Good stuff Esteban.
Lap 19: Another fastest lap from Seb, and it’s a 1:30.7. He’s closing
in on second place man Sergio Perez.
Surely it’s a matter of time, especially seen as the Mexican is told “you’re
not racing Vettel”. I.e, don’t waste time trying to defend.
In this world of F1 tyre management, this is inevitable.
Lap 18: I realise I haven’t updated you on the the current championship
standings in a few laps. The reason being, it’s completely and utterly over
as things stand. Vettel is more than doing what he needs to do, and Alonso
is not.
Lap 17: Both Vettel and Alonso came in on lap 2, and the German is
third, while the Spaniard is 14th. That tells you everything you need to
know about how close this championship has been.
Vettel is 12.4 seconds behind Webber and steadily eating into the Australian’s
lead.
Lap 16: I wish engineers could be slightly less cryptic on team radio.
Sergio Perez is still on “plan A”, whatever that is. I’m assuming
that doesn’t mean have a disappointing debut season for a big team?
Lap 15: They’ve just shown replays of Gutierrez’s jump start, and it
seems a tad harsh. He did go before the lights, but then stopped again, so
didn’t really gain any time at all.
Perez is second, Vettel third, Ricciardo fourth, and Sutil is fifth.
Lap 14: Two stops already for Jenson! What happened to the tyre
management king?
Webber leads, but Vettel is slowly eating into his 14 second or so lead.
Gutierrez has been given a drive through penalty for jumping the start.
Lap 13: And another lap, another straightforward pass for Vettel into
turn four. This time its past his team-mate for next year Daniel Ricciardo.
Unsurprisingly, the Australian didn’t make it at all difficult, leave a nice
gaping hole on his inside.
Lap 12: Webber still leads, and he has a gap of 6.1 seconds over Sergio
Perez. Vettel is about 16 seconds back in fourth place. It’s looking
increasingly like this race is going to be a battle between these two.
Lap 11: And Vettel gets past Grosjean now. The Frenchman started 17th
and still hasn’t pitted on the soft tyre. All the signs of a one stop
strategy there. He’s going to be ignoring Pirelli’s safety advice on stint
lengths before long….
Alonso is way down in 17th.
Lap 10: Vettel is carving his way through the field, and is up to fifth
with what you might describe as a regulation pass on Force India’s Adrian
Sutil at turn four.
Lap 9: So Mark Webber leads after those in front pit. He has clear air,
and it’s fair to say he’s got to make it count if he’s going to have any
chance of winning this race.
He’s just set the fastest lap on a 1:31.8. The Australian needs to open out a
healthy gap to have a pit stop in hand over his team-mate.
Lap 8: Nice move from Jenson Button on Vergne into turn three, but then
as he tries to pass Raikkonen into turn four he loses out to the Frenchman.
This is all for 17th place mind. Got to feel sorry for the loveable Brit
this season.
And race leader is in! Massa and Hamilton pit and both come out behind
Sebastian Vettel.
Lap 7: As I say that, the Beeb’s Andrew Benson points out Vettel is
only 12 seconds behind Webber after having pitted. Once this all flushes out
I have a funny feeling we could find the German way out in front.
Meanwhile, Rosberg is in from second place.
Lap 6: This is all going quite well for Mark Webber at this stage. He’s
back up to fourth and slowly picking off the cars on the quicker soft tyre
as they “fall off the cliff” (not literally of course). Grosjean
is up to 11th already, and none of the front-runners peal in to the pits
this lap.
Lap 5: Massa leads, Rosberg second, Hamilton third, Webber up to
fourth, Raikkonen in fifth.
Lap 4: At the start Hamilton had managed to get up to second with the
best start of the front-runners, but then a huge oversteer moment in turn
three scuppered his chances, and he was duly overtaken by Rosberg and Massa.
Alonso is down in 20th after pitting, and it sounds like there’s something
fundamentally up with his car. He says the steering is “very heavy”
on the right hand corners. Hulkenberg is in in the Sauber.
Lap 3: So Massa leads, Rosberg is second, Hamilton is third, Hulkenberg
is fourth. Crucialluy for Webber he is in front of anyone else on the harder
tyre, in sixth place.
Poor Van der Garde – he’s complaining that his suspension is broken, and he
says it’s Max Chilton “again”. “Idiot!” is his frank
assessment.
Lap 2: The German has a 3.3 second lead, but he’s already in the pits!
Two laps! Alonso is in for a front wing change after an unusually poor first
lap.
Lap 1: Vettel gets away very well, Webber gets some contact – does he
have a puncture? He seems okay so far. And Massa with an absolute stormer!
On the long run down to turn four he gets past both of the Mercedes and is up
to second! Webber is down to 7th, and di Resta and Vergne have already
decided to pit.
09:33 According to some of the engineers we could see people on the
soft tyres pitting as early as lap two, which is a little bit ridiculous.
In the meantime, we have one light, two lights, three lights, four lights,
five lights, and we’re racing in India!
09:31 They are onto the formation lap, no dramas thus far. At least the
main grandstand looks full today. Worth remembering that if Alonso gets put
out on the opening lap, Vettel is world champion, regardless of where he
finishes.
09:30 The Beeb’s James Allen points out Webber can’t afford to get
stuck behind messers Hamilton and Rosberg:
09:28 Just a few minutes away from lights out now, which means its
predictions time. It’s really tough today, but even though he’s probably on
the wrong strategy I think Vettel will find a way to win.
Mark Webber will fall back to about sixth at the start, and will be passed
(hopefully on track, but potentially in the pits) by his team-mate, to give
Red Bull a one-two.
09:23 DRS! The drivers have two bites at the cherry for this race. The
pit straight, and then the huge run down to turn four. Expect to see lots of
drivers tactically staying behind on the start finish straight so they can
streak away on the 1.2km straight to turn four.
09:20 Jake Humphrey agrees with me on the Eddie Jordan front:
I don’t want you to think Jake is my idol or anything, but it’s fair to say F1
misses him.
09:19 Eddie Jordan is doing a vaguely decent job of the gridwalk, I
must say.
He’s just grabbed Niki Lauda, who says he’s pleased with the film Rush and
that its an accurate depiction of what went on. “I only wish James
(Hunt) could see it”, he says.
Here’s the trailer, in case you haven’t seen it:
09:16 Two articles spotted elsewhere (astonishing, I know) which are
definitely worth a read before this morning’s race. (But be sure to come
back here obviously, without sounding like a needy F1 driver in fear of
losing their seat).
First, Richard
Williams (in part) bemoans how modern tracks, with their vast run off
areas, have created a risk-management era in F1.
And the Beeb’s Gary
Anderson explains in phenomenal detail why he thinks Red Bull have
stolen a march since the summer break with the design of their underfloor.
The Guardian and BBC’s respective F1 live bloggers are welcome to link to any
of Tom Cary’s excellent articles, but whether they decide to take me up on
that offer, we’ll see.
09:13 I can’t find a video on YouTube of Vettel’s pole lap, but it was
a frankly ridiculous 0.7 seconds faster than the Mercedes, and it looked
like there was plenty of time to spare.
Here’s him going through the unique turns 10, 11, 12; the most spectacular on
the circuit.
09:10 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: If you’re not a Sebastian Vettel or Red
Bull fan, these make for depressing reading. I feel like we should all be
exposed to their brilliance, however. Hence, below.
DRIVERS:
1 Sebastian Vettel 297
2 Fernando Alonso 207
3 Kimi Räikkönen 177
4 Lewis Hamilton 161
5 Mark Webber 148
6 Nico Rosberg 126
7 Felipe Massa 90
8 Romain Grosjean 87
9 Jenson Button 60
10 Nico Hulkenberg 39
11 Paul di Resta 36
12 Adrian Sutil 26
13 Sergio Perez 23
14 Daniel Ricciardo 18
15 Jean-Eric Vergne 13
16 Esteban Gutierrez 6
17 Pastor Maldonado 1
18 Valtteri Bottas 0
19 Jules Bianchi 0
20 Charles Pic 0
21 Giedo van der Garde 0
22 Max Chilton 0
CONSTRUCTORS
1Red Bull Racing-Renault 445
2 Ferrari 297
3 Mercedes 287
4 Lotus-Renault 264
5 McLaren-Mercedes 83
6 ForceIndia-Mercedes 62
7 Sauber-Ferrar i45
8 STR-Ferrari 31
9 Williams-Renault 11
10 Marussia-Cosworth 0
11 Caterham-Renault 0
09:03 Sebastian Vettel is giving a very good interview to the Beeb’s
Lee McKenzie. He doesn’t always get credit, but he can be phenomenally
funny.
After being told he’s a “great driver, funny guy”, he quips: “Amazing
lover…” Very funny boy. (I realise in print that looks a little bit
sleasy, but it came across very well).
Vettel also says his main regret from Malaysia is “putting himself above
the team”.
08:59 You would think given the millions of pounds the big teams have,
and all the technology in Formula One, they would have a pretty good idea
how strategies will pan out. Apparently not, according to Christian Horner.
“I have no got no idea, which is why (the drivers) are split.”
08:57 Indian GP by numbers:
The most important to know is that Sebastian Vettel has led every lap here.
Will he keep that running going? Or just win the race at a canter? Here’s
the other numbers you need to know.
First Grand Prix: 2011
Number of Laps: 60
Circuit Length: 5.125 km
Race Distance: 307.249 km
Lap Record: 1:27.249 – S Vettel (2011)
08:53 As I mentioned earlier, because of the huge disparity between the
life of the two tyre compounds, we could have very little idea about what’s
truly happening until the last few laps.
Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg start on the soft tyre, and Webber in fourth is
on the harder tyre.
Will Red Bull bring in team orders if Vettel is behind Webber? Given how that
went last time in Malaysia, I doubt it:
08:50 Vettel’s detractors like to point out that he is driving a car
designed by the undisputed technical genius of Formula One: Adrian Newey.
But, as he tells our Formula One correspondent Tom Cary, he’s not planning to
stick around forever.
There’s been plenty of clamour since Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup victory for
Newey to try his hand at sailing, and he certainly expresses an interest.
“At some stage, I’m not exactly sure when, I do feel it will be time to
become involved in other things.
“Formula One is such an all-consuming sport, I think it’s very hard to
be involved in it properly and also be involved in something else at the same
time.”
08:46 For the drivers’ championship to continue beyond this race,
Fernando Alonso needs to beat Vettel by 16 points, and has to finish in the
top two. As this twitpic from Ferrari shows, he seems in pretty relaxed,
albeit fighty, mood.
08:43 Part of the reason the teams grumble about the Indian Grand Prix
is the tax they have to pay, which, to some degree, is higher because the
Indian government classifies Formula One as an “entertainment”, not a sport.
And by the look of the grandstands yesterday for qualifying, F1 is struggling
to get a look in against, well, CRICKET. Duh.
One of their pretty good to decent players retired recently. Let’s savour some
of his best moments.
The Telegraph’s F1 correspondent Tom Cary explains
why this year’s race nearly never happened.
08:38 The BBC are doing their standard semi-emotional opener on the
streets of Delhi. I don’t want you to think I’m having a go at Susie Perry,
but I miss Jake Humphrey. Even if he is really a “children’s TV
presenter”.
08:36 Because F1 might not be coming to this track for much longer,
there isn’t much time to get yourself acquainted with the track. Here’s a
lap onboard with Nico Rosberg from a couple of years ago.
08:35 As is customary in Formula One at the moment, Sebastian Vettel
qualified on pole.
The main shock of qualifying was Lotus’s Romain Grosjean failing to make it
out of Q1 after a tyre blunder. Here’s how they line up.
Final Grid Positions after Qualifying:
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 24.119secs
2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:24.871
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:24.941
4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:25.047
5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:25.201
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:25.248
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari 1:25.334
8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:25.826
9 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:26.153
10 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:26.487
11 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.519
12 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:25.711
13 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:25.740
14 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.798
15 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:26.134
16 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.336
17 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:26.577
18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:26.842
19 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:26.970
20 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:27.105
21 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:27.487
22 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:28.138
And don’t forget to cast your eye over Tom
Cary’s qualifying report.
08:32 Because of some technical gremlins at Telegraph Towers, I’m
watching the BBC coverage rather than Sky’s this morning.
A man it’s fair to say the Beeb misses has gone for a certain Australian to
pick up his final victory in F1. What do you think? Email or tweet me your
predictions.
08:29 The Beeb’s
Andrew Benson has news of yet more Pirelli-related controversy ahead of
today’s race.
As was apparent from practice and qualifying, the soft “option” tyre
is lasting a matter of single digit laps, so the manufacturer has warned
teams not to use the soft tyre for more than 15 laps and the medium tyre for
more than 35 laps.
08:25 As is common this season, almost all the teams are ferociously
active on Twitter before the start of every race.
Lotus are generally the most entertaining (remember their tweet after
Raikkonen said he was moving to Ferrari), but this picture from Red Bull is
my favourite thus far this morning:
08:16 Welcome to the third and, depressingly, what could possibly the
last Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit, 40km outside New
Delhi. Three years. It’s quite plausible that on current form Sebastian
Vettel could lead every single lap that will ever take place at this Indian
Grand Prix venue.
There’s rumours swirling around the Formula One circus that, after being
omitted from the calendar in 2014, the race could struggle to find its way
back onto it in 2015. Today’s race was almost cancelled due to tax issues,
with a Supreme Court ruling only saving the event on Friday.
If it is to be the last race, it is not only a sign of total and utter lunacy
on F1’s part, but it would be a crying shame. Not only is the venue
colourful, but more importantly for a Herman Tilke design the track has been
accepted, at least from the driver’s point of view, as a resounding success.
It may not offer oodles of overtaking opportunities, but watching an F1 car
stick to the ground on the high-speed turn 10, 11 and 12 is a sight to
behold.
There are also plenty of elevation changes, something you won’t see much of an
some of the other modern tracks, and the 1.2km back straight before a huge,
wide apex at turn four offers ample chances to throw a speculative lunge up
the inside.
I probably should have said this earlier in my introduction, but pole man
Sebastian Vettel will almost certainly be crowned a four-time world champion
today. He only needs to finish fifth to seal the deal.
Will we see more tears from the man who famously blubbered: “Thank you boys.
Unbelievable.” after winning at Abu Dhabi in 2010? Most likely not, because
frankly he has won this one at a canter in dominant fashion. Expect the
debate about his merits to rage on even after he has won four world titles.
But there’s a possibility Vettel might not have it all his own way. Because
everyone (sensibly) realised in qualifying that he was largely unbeatable,
his team-mate Mark Webber as well as Fernando Alonso decided to qualify on
the harder tyre. With the durability of the soft (which Vettel starts on)
being anything as little as a few laps, this could put the German on the
back foot.
For this time of year, the driver market remains remarkably fluid, so India
may be the last chance for drivers to impress other teams or cling onto
their own seat. Basically the entire midfield remains undecided, with a seat
at Lotus also up for grabs.
From the British perspective, the debate for Paul di Resta has shifted
somewhat from ‘Can he get a drive for a bigger team?’, so ‘Can he keep hold
of his Force India seat?’, after a series of mistimed non-finishes.
Please do email me (daniel.johnson@telegraph.co.uk)
or tweet me (@danielt_johnson)
with your musings on the race, or what you think in response to the
following questions: after a season at the helm, has the BBC’s Susie Perry
won you over? How many world titles will Vettel win and why? Does India
deserve its place on the calendar?
08.00 Good morning. Can Sebastian Vettel win his fourth successive
world drivers’ championship? Join me for build up with lights out at 09:30.