Greater Noida: World Champion Sebastian Vettel assertead his supremacy by comfortably winning the action-packed inaugural Indian F1 Grand Prix while home team Sahara Force India earned two points through Adrian Sutil’s ninth place finish here on Sunday.
Starting from pole, Vettel faced no challenge whatsoever as he cruised to his 11th win of the season with an easy 8.4 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button in a race watched by a galaxy of dignitaries, fimstars and cricketers at the spanky Buddh International circuit.
Button did push hard towards the end but the Red Bull driver was too strong to beat. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was third, followed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who had started second from grid. With this win Vettel (334), who had already secured the championship title for the second consecutive time, has now 134 more points than second placed Button while Alonso (240) is now third with six more points than Webber.
Red Bull have already sealed the constructors’ championship and today’s second place result from Button has sealed the second place for McLaren. Red Bull have 595 points, followed by McLaren (442) and Ferrai (325).
Sutil had dropped as back as 13th after starting from eighth but the Force India driver pulled his way back and pipped Sergio Perez of Sauber in the dying minutes to secure ninth position.
The result means that Force India has strengthened its sixth position in the constructor’s championship as it is now leading both Sauber and Toro Rosso by 10 points. Force India now have 51 points.
Paul di Resta, the other home team driver, finished outside the points bracket with a 13th place in the event which saw iconic Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar wave the chequered flag.
Narain Karthikeyan had a tremendous result as he finished 17th after starting from the last in the race, in which five drivers crashed out, including Ferrari’s Massa. (PTI)