GP India 2011: race result

N new route, old winner: Sebastian Vettel was The competition did not stop in Delhi on Sunday either. The world champion from Heppenheim led the race from pole position to the finish line, thus securing the eleventh win of the season. With the fastest lap on the last lap, the Red Bull driver ensured a perfect finish.

'Everything really worked out. The car was perfect. The main thing was to make the pit stops perfectly time ', the premier winner was happy afterwards. Still, the world champion had mixed feelings in the end: 'Of course I'm happy with my first victory here on the new track. But of course we still have the two fatal accidents of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli in the back of our minds. We have two really big ones of motorsport. '

Jenson Button in second place could never really endanger the success of his Red Bull competitor. Whenever the Brit came too close, Vettel stepped up a gear. 'It was a bit frustrating, but it was still fun,' said the McLaren driver later. With the usual constant times, however, he went home safely in second place. 'We couldn't do more.'

Alonso overtook Webber in the pits

The fight for the last podium was harder. In the end, Fernando Alonso prevailed against Mark Webber. With a clever strategy, Ferrari steered its star past the Red Bull during the second pit stop on lap 38. 'I was a bit surprised that he pitted so early,' said the Spaniard later. 'I'm of course very happy that we can drink champagne here.'

After a bad start, the double world champion defended his position on the hard tires without any mistakes in the last stint. It hadn't looked like a podium celebration before the race: 'On the starting grid, the mechanics had to work on the Ferrari again. They did a fantastic job that I was able to leave on time,' explained Alonso after crossing the finish line.

Behind Webber, the Mercedes duo crossed the finish line in fifth and sixth. At first, Nico Rosberg was ahead of the game, but Michael Schumacher, who started four places behind, kept catching up during the race. In the first lap, the record champion cleverly only used his KERS on the long straight and did sodirectly some places good. With fast lap times, the team mate finally passed the second stop.

'For us, seventh or eighth place is normally the maximum. Today we were able to take advantage of the others' mistakes, that paid off' , pleased such Schumi. 'I divided my tires in the second stint and was able to stay on them longer. That made the difference to Nico. I don't think it had anything to do with strategy.'

Hamilton crashes together with Massa again

Lewis Hamilton, in seventh place, experienced another eventful race. In the 23rd lap, the Briton crashed again with archenemy Felipe Massa. In the battle for fifth place, Hamilton launched an uncompromising attack on turn five. But Massa didn't give in a millimeter and steered straight into the McLaren. The due front wing repair threw the world champion from 2008 behind the two Mercedes.

The race management, somewhat surprisingly, blamed Massa for the collision. The man from Sao Paulo was sentenced to a drive-through penalty. Then everything went wrong: First the new, flexible Ferrari front wing went on strike, which, as in training, bent too much at high speeds. After the repairs had to be stopped, the 30-year-old hit the high curbs too hard, as in qualifying, and damaged the suspension. Without control of his sports equipment, Massa rolled out on lap 32.

The midfield teams Toro Rosso, Sauber, Force India and Renault fought for the last three places in the top ten. In the end, as in Korea, Jaime Alguersuari got the most points in eighth place. Adrian Sutil was able to satisfy the local Force India fans in the stands with ninth place. The last World Cup counter was for Sauber driver Sergio Perez. The two Renault drivers Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna came away empty-handed on eleven and twelve.

Early retirement for Timo Glock

For Timo Glock there was on Sunday nothing to get either. After the gearbox bad luck in qualifying, the race ended early too. The Virgin driver had to park his car in the pits after just two laps. 'I actually got off to a good start. On the way into the first corner I saw the parts of the others flying. Kobayashi turned and came back onto the track right in front of me.'

After the inevitable collision, Glock first got a new front wing from his mechanics. But one lap later it went back to the pits. 'I noticed that there was some problem at the front right. That's why I had to park the car in the garage for good.'

Button up front in the battle for second place in the championship

In the overall standings, Sebastian Vettel has now increased his lead to 134 points. As is well known, he has not been able to take the world title from him since Suzuka. Jenson continued to fight for the runner-up titleButton the best cards. Two races before the end of the season, the Englishman is now leading with 240 points, ahead of Alonso with 227 points and Webber with 221.