15:02 Hamilton says his radio quality is really bad. Not the best start to the race. 15:01 All the cars are away from the grid without incident. Just minutes away from the start now. 15:00 We think Rosberg has opted for brand new softs that he saved from yesterday after not setting a time in Q3. Mercedes struggle with tyre degradation so that was the thinking behind that. 14:59 The tyre warmers come off and it looks like Grosjean is on hard tyres as are Schumacher, Ricciardo and Kobayashi. 14:55 So, the drivers are now all nestled in their cockpits and the grid is cleared of hangers-on. 14:53 Robert asks: "Does Webber have the inside line into turn 1 since he is starting 2nd on the grid and possibly take the lead like Vettel did in Korea?" Yes, he's on the inside, but needs to nail his start because it's also the dirty side of the grid. It's not the longest sprint to the first corner, but if you get a good start it is possible to make up one or two positions - and then there's turn three that I mentioned early. I suspect that will be more about keeping out of trouble than trying anything audacious. 14:51 Nobody is quite sure how easy it will be to overtake today. There are two DRS zones - the second of which is longer than last year - and the first and fourth corners at the end of the DRS zone are both very wide. I think it will come down to tyre deg and a mix of one and two-stop strategies will make for some very interesting racing. On the plus side there is less dust off the racing line this year, which can only be a good thing. 14:49 Alonso's aim is solely to finish ahead of Vettel, but from fifth on the grid he is going to need a mega start to get near the Red Bull. However, turn three is pretty tight and blind, so there is a lot of risk involved in going aggressive through the opening part of this lap. 14:48 Kit says: "Hoping Vettel will be as excellent throughout the weekend for this race day. All he has to do is finish in front of Alonso...of course, a no. 1 is much preferred. Hope that McLaren will spoil Alonso chances in gaining points by slotting between Red Bull and ferrari...:-)" 14:47 We should also take this opportunity to say a very happy birthday to Bernard Charles Ecclestone, who turned 82 today. 14:44 On Friday McLaren had some impressive long-run pace in practice but the track has evolved a fair bit since then, so knowing how the tyres will work is all a bit of a guessing game. The question seems to be whether it will be a one-stop or two-stop strategy, with some teams better off than others with tyre degradation. 14:42 The question is whether anyone can catch the Red Bulls, and although they have the front row locked out, the teams aren't convinced it will be the walk over some of the media are predicting. 14:37 The drivers are just heading out to the grid now and it is packed with VIPs and celebrities, adding to the atmosphere and excitement at the circuit. 14:35 Welcome to live commentary of the Indian Grand Prix. In less than 25 minutes the second grand prix in this fantastic country will get underway and we'll bring you coverage of every lap. |
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Lap 1 |
Vettel leads Webber, Hamilton and Button as they come out of turn three. Alonso challenges the McLarens down the back straight and gets ahead of them only to back out into turn four. In the end he makes up one position and nestles in behind Button as Hamilton loses out. |
Lap 2 |
Vettel leads by 1.2s from Webber, Button, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa. Schumacher has a right rear puncture and returns to the pits. Vergne also pitted so maybe there was contact... The Red Bulls are leaving the rest for dust with Vettel 1.2s clear of Webber and Button 1.6s off Webber. |
Lap 3 |
DRS is enabled but the Button is too far behind the Red Bulls. Alonso might have a go at Button though. He's close to the McLaren as they come out of turn four but has to keep an eye on Hamilton who is also in DRS range behind him. Massa and Raikkonen are also at the end of that train of cars. |
Lap 4 |
Vettel has a 2.1s lead as he starts lap four. This is looking very familiar... Alonso is close to Button out of turn three... and he uses his extra top speed to pass the McLaren with ease into turn four. Alonso has a very long seventh gear and a lot more straight-line speed. That helps to explain why Ferrari were so keen to help him with a slipstream in qualifying. |
Lap 5 |
Meanwhile, Vettel continues on his merry way with a 2.2s lead. Alexander makes a good point: "The smog is so thick the cameras can barely show the action on some parts of the track. The drivers need their rain lights on." |
Lap 6 |
Vettel extends his lead by another 2.4s as we watch replays of Schumacher's tyres falling apart and the broken front wing on Vergne's car from lap one. Hamilton passes Button in the DRS zone into turn four. A nice clean move, although Button did have a look at his team-mate into turn five before thinking better of it. |
Lap 7 |
Webber is pegging the gap to Vettel with the gap at 2.3s. There's no need for him to get any closer at this stage as he will only ruin his tyres and put unnecessary pressure on both Red Bulls. Alonso is 3.8s off Webber. Hamilton is 2.6s off Alonso. Alonso is just about matching the pace of the Red Bulls in all three sectors. |
Lap 8 |
Vettel sets a new fastest lap and extends his lead to 2.7s. It's almost as though he can extend the gap as and when he wants. Alonso takes another couple of tenths out of Webber. He needs to get past Webber for his championship. All messages to Alonso - and there are quite a few - are in Italian. Apologies, but I don't speak Italian. |
Lap 9 |
A replay of the start shows that Vergne and Schumacher made contact into turn one causing Schumacher's puncture. It looked very much like a racing incident to me. Alonso drops to 4.0s off Webber. Hamilton is 3.3s off the Ferrari. Button and Massa is the closest battle, with the pair split by 0.5s. |
Lap 10 |
But Massa also has pressure from Raikkonen although the Lotus's DRS advantage is negated by the DRS advantage Massa is getting behind Button. Vettel leads Webber by 3.0s. Alonso has dropped to 4.2s off Webber. |
Lap 11 |
Schumacher is currently sat between Webber and Alonso on track but is a lap down. It looks like another long afternoon for the Mercedes driver. The best battle on track is currently between Rosberg and Maldonado for tenth. Grosjean and Senna are waiting behind to take advantage of any mistakes. |
Lap 12 |
Vettel sets a very fast lap to extend his lead to 3.4s over Webber. Alonso continues his gradual slide away from the Red Bulls with the gap now 4.4s. There's also a great battle between Perez and Hulkenberg for eighth. The Force India had a look at the Sauber into turn four and then the pair had a bit of a scrap into five as well. |
Lap 13 |
Raikkonen is showing some very strong pace but is still bottled up behind Massa. He can't match the top speed of the Ferrari and so can't get past in the overtaking zone. Perez and Hulkenberg are still racing hard. Once again they go wheel-to-wheel into turns four and five. |
Lap 14 |
Webber is trying to fight back but can only really match the pace of Vettel at the moment with the gap at 3.6s. Hulkenberg finally finds a way past Perez in the DRS zone after getting a good exit out of turn three. Great racing as Perez went to the inside and Hulkenberg went around the outside. |
Lap 15 |
Webber is currently the fastest man on the track but only by a couple of hundredths of a second over Vettel. Perez pits. Alonso is now 4.6s off Webber but is 6.5s clear of Hamilton who complains that he lost a lot of time lapping Schumacher. |
Lap 16 |
Vettel sets another fastest lap to extend the gap to 3.6s. It all looks so easy. Maldonado has now dropped off Rosberg and comes under attack fro Grosjean, who passes into turn four. Senna also takes advantage and passes his team-mate out of turn four. |
Lap 17 |
Vettel maintains his relentless pace for another lap. Webber is just about holding on and in doing so nearly has a 5.0s gap over Alonso. Raikkonen is still looking quick behind Massa, but the Ferrari is getting a good exit out of turn three on every lap so the Lotus can't try a pass using the DRS. |
Lap 18 |
Vettel adds another 0.4s to his lead after a poor lap from Webber. Are the No.2 car's tyres starting to drop off. Alonso closes to 4.6s as a result. |
Lap 19 |
Alonso takes another tenth off Webber and set the fastest middle sector of the race on that last lap. Hamilton is now 8.1s off Alonso. Webber now sets an even faster middle sector than Alonso, indicating that his tyres haven't gone just yet. |
Lap 20 |
Perez has a puncture after trying to pass Ricciardo. He tried to around the outside of the Toro Rosso at turn one and cut across its bows, clipping Ricciardo's front wing. Perez completes a long haul back to the pits and his race is now ruined. It's not looking like a good day for Sauber, Perez will have to try to run to the end of the race on these tyres but is now right down the order. |
Lap 21 |
Raikkonen continues to close on Massa in the first sector but again can't match the Ferrari on the long straight out of turn three. Button appears to have a flatspot of a blister on one of his front tyres and is complaining of juddering and understeer. |
Lap 22 |
Perez is back in the pits and has parked his car. There could well be damage to his car after that puncture. Back at the front, Vettel is now 5.5s clear of Webber with Alonso now 3.3s off Webber. |
Lap 23 |
Alonso continues to close on Webber and is now 2.3s off Webber, who looks like he is struggling with backmarkers. Meanwhile, Grosjean is putting pressure on Rosberg for ninth. The Lotus is on hard tyres and appears to have the advantage over Rosberg's 23-lap-old softs. And Grosjean makes the move stick into turn four. Rosberg is now under pressure from Senna. |
Lap 24 |
Red Bull confirm to Vettel on the radio that Webber is struggling on the tyres. Alonso is now just 1,8s off the second Red Bull. Hamilton thinks his tyres are getting close to the limit and is now 10.3s off Alonso and 3.3s clear of Button. |
Lap 25 |
Vettel is now 8.9s clear of Webber. Alonso is 1.9s off Webber on the last lap. Red Bull are trying to jostle their strategy and I suspect we will see Webber pit before Vettel now. Massa is told he needs to stay out for three or four more laps to make this one-stop strategy work |
Lap 26 |
Senna pulls a very late move into turn four to pass Rosberg, but loses the position again on corner exit. Button pits from fifth and comes out in ninth behind Grosjean. He'll need to pass that Lotus quickly. The Rosberg/Senna battle continues behind Button but again Rosberg does well to defend from the Williams. They are both on soft tyres that they have used since the start. |
Lap 27 |
Vettel now has a lead of 10.1s over Webber. Alonso is 1.8s off the second Red Bull so is just keeping a watching brief at the moment. Raikkonen is still on the tail of Massa but cannot find a way past, so he decides to pit. Lotus are trying to find an undercut on the Ferrari and has clear track now. |
Lap 28 |
Rosberg also pits from his battle with Senna. |
Lap 29 |
Massa pits now ... and comes out just ahead of Raikkonen, but Kimi gets past at turn three. Massa hits back with DRS on the following straight so it remains as they were in that battle. |
Lap 30 |
Alonso pits. He was roughly 2.0s off Webber so we can expect the Red Bull to pit on the next lap to respond. Vettel currently has a 11.2s lead at the front so Red Bull can prioritise Webber's strategy. |
Lap 31 |
And Webber does pit now ... it's a clean stop. Maldonado is off at turn five after being clipped by Kobayashi. He's got a puncture caused by the Sauber. Maldonado passed Kobayashi and then cut across the Sauber too early and the pair touched. |
Lap 32 |
The gap between Alonso and Webber is now 0.8s and they are close heading down the DRS straight. The Ferrari thinks about a move into turn four but is not close enough. Vettel is still yet to pit. |
Lap 33 |
Hamilton now pits from second. He changes the steering wheel at that pit stop and remarkably it all goes quite smoothly. He won't lose a place because of that. Vettel is still setting fastest sectors but will pit at the end of this lap. |
Lap 34 |
Vettel exits the pits and retains his lead as expected. The stewards are investigating the Maldonado/ Kobayahsi incident. I would lay the blame at Maldonado's door even though they weren't really racing for position as the Sauber had yet to pit. Alonso has a look at Webber into turn five but is not going to be able to make it stick. |
Lap 35 |
Hamilton has also closed on Alonso and is now 7.8s off the Ferrari after those stops. Button still hasn't found a way past Grosjean and locks up into turn four trying to pass. The Lotus hasn't pitted yet so is on much older hard tyres. |
Lap 36 |
Webber is now picking up the pace and led the Ferrari by a second on that last lap. If he can pull out a lead over a second he will negate the Ferrari's DRS advantage and that will make it very difficult for Alonso to fight back. |
Lap 37 |
Meanwhile, Vettel is now 12.0s ahead of Webber at the front. This is a dominant performance. Alonso is now 1.4s off Webber so is out of DRS range. Hamilton is a further 7.9s back with Button another 9.1s behind his team-mate. Grosjean now pits as Schumacher is under investigation for ignoring blue flags. Kobayashi also pits so all the field have now made at least one pit stop. |
Lap 38 |
Raikkonen is told Massa is low on fuel so could have a chance to attack the Ferrari for sixth before the end of the race. Alonso has closed the gap to Webber again, it's now 0.9s. He gets a some encouragement in Italian over the radio. |
Lap 39 |
Webber hits back with a new fastest lap, but Hamilton has also upped his pace and sets a fastest lap of his own. Hamilton is now 7.0s off Alonso, so the Ferrari will have to watch out. But, Hamilton says he is not sure his tyres will last - his team responds saying he is doing a good job. |
Lap 40 |
Vettel still leads by over 11.0s and can now coax his Red Bull home, although that's not his style. |
Lap 41 |
Webber has now extended his gap to 1.6s over Alonso so appears to have the gap under control. It will be one thing for Alonso to get close and quite another for Webber to pass. Raikkonen is still bottled up behind Massa. The Ferrari uses all its KERS out of turn three onto the long straight and Kimi doesn't. But the real problem for the Lotus is than he only has a 5km/h speed advantage over the Ferrari when he has his DRS open. That's not enough. |
Lap 42 |
Alonso now drops to 2.0s off Webber. The No.5 Ferrari is coasting a bit into the first corner to save fuel so might struggle to mount another challenge. |
Lap 43 |
Webber is looking comfortable now and even has the gap to Vettel under 11.0s. He now has a 2.2s gap over Alonso. Hamilton is 6.2s off Alonso, so might try a charge over the remaining 16 laps. |
Lap 44 |
But we know Hamilton is a bit concerned about tyre wear so even if he does catch Alonso, passing the Ferrari will be tough. |
Lap 45 |
Webber has lost KERS but is told "It will come back". Alonso closes the gap to 1.9s. This could be interesting. De la Rosa is out after spinning off at turn four. When you see an HRT go off under braking you tend to think its a failure. The was a puff of black smoke from the front left and de la Rosa confirms it is a brake failure. Not good. |
Lap 46 |
DRS has been disabled on the back straight now. Alonso is gaining on Webber again and is now 1.7s off the Red Bull. Hamilton is matching their pace, 6.4s further down the road. |
Lap 47 |
And now the gap is one second between Alonso and Webber. He can smell blood (or at least a KERS issue). Still no DRS on the back straight though, so Alonso is at a bit of a disadvantage as the HRT finally gets cleared away. Hamilton is now 5.9s off Alonso as he tries to gain on the Ferrari. |
Lap 48 |
Alonso is back in the DRS zone and the yellows have now cleared. Webber is not using KERS still. And Alonso gets the job done, passing the Red Bull way before turn four with a combination of KERS and DRS. It was quite a close move in the end but clean enough. |
Lap 49 |
Vettel now ups his pace and has an 11.9s gap over Alonso in second. Webber is now just 4.2s clear of Hamilton. The McLaren should start to reel him in unless Webber's KERS comes back online. |
Lap 50 |
McLaren confirms that message to Hamilton saying he can pass Webber. Alonso sets a new fastest lap with the gap now 11.3s to Vettel. He will try to put the pressure on but I suspect Vettel has this under control. Button is also looking fast but is 12.2s off his team-mate Hamilton. Raikkonen is still losing time behind Massa but there are a few mistakes creeping inside the Ferrari cockpit, with Massa clobbering the kerbs at turn seven. |
Lap 51 |
11.2s is the gap on this lap between Vettel and Alonso. Webber has dropped 2.6s off the Ferrari and Hamilton is 3.0s off the Red Bull. |
Lap 52 |
Hamilton sets the fastest lap and closes the gap to 2.6s to Webber. Meanwhile, Senna passes Rosberg for tenth into turn four. Senna holds it around the outside and fully deserves that position after a strong race. |
Lap 53 |
Alonso now sets the fastest lap of the race and has the gap down to 10.2s. He was a second quicker on that last lap. Hamilton is now 2.1s off Webber. A few sparks from the front of the Red Bull's undertray under braking. A bit odd but probably nothing to worry about. Even Button is being told to push to try to pass Webber even though he is 13s off. |
Lap 54 |
There are definitely sparks coming from Vettel's car and he is bottoming out on the straights. Alonso is now 9.8s off the lead Red Bull. Hamilton is 1.5s off Webber. |
Lap 55 |
Alonso told to keep pushing because Vettel's "plank is on the ground". |
Lap 56 |
Webber increases the gap to Hamilton now with it standing at 1.7s. It looks like his KERS might have come back. For those asking, Raikkonen is still tucked up behind Massa with the gap now 0.6s. He asks when he can use full revs and is told to go to mixture five, so we might see a move soon. Hamilton told to keep the pressure on Webber but the gap is stabilising at 1.4s. |
Lap 57 |
Vettel has upped his pace again compared to Alonso, who appeared to make a mistake at turn 13. The gap is now 10.8s. It looks like Schumacher is going to retire after another terrible race. |
Lap 58 |
Hamilton is still pushing and is told "we can get him". 1.2s is the gap and the McLaren is closing. But Webber is only 2.9s off Alonso so it actually all looks a little close out there. Apart from Vettel, who now looks safe, 10.6s down the road. |
Lap 59 |
Hamilton has the gap down to 1.0s do will now get the DRS advantage, but he runs wide in turn three. He uses DRS but is too far off. That McLaren looks like a handful as he really tries to hustle it. One lap to go and one more chance for Hamilton. |
Lap 60 |
Vettel wins with the fastest lap on the final lap. Alonso is second and Webber holds onto third. Button snatches fastest lap off Vettel with his final lap, not that it counts for much. Massa beats Raikkonen to the line but stops just after the finish line, presumably out of fuel. Hulkenberg was eighth for Force India on home turf, Grosjean managed ninth on a hard-soft strategy and Senna took the final point in tenth. Webber told he weathered the storm brilliantly. I think Vettel just got a message saying "Fail 22", but he still looks okay at the front as he starts his final lap. Hamilton is not close enough to try a move into turn four. Hulkenberg has also stopped on track as Webber pushes Vettel down the pit lane, maybe he ran out of fuel too. Raikkonen was still 0.6s off Massa as they crossed the line. |
Vettel gives his Red Bull a little stroke before running off to celebrate with his team. Sandeep asks: "Whats special about Vettel's RBR car that it always lead by around 10 s its not a small lead." If I knew that I'd get a job with Ferrari for the rest of the season... Thanks for joining us for this race. I think it proved to be a little bit more exciting than a few people thought. The gap at the top is now 13 points after more impressive damage limitation from Alonso. We'll have driver reaction after the race so keep checking the website. |