Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel became the first winner of the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday, as the German led from pole to flag to beat Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
It was the Red Bull driver's 11th victory of an amazing season, with Vettel's teammate Mark Webber clinching fourth ahead of the Mercedes pair of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton's McLaren collided with Felipe Massa in the Ferrari for the fifth time this season, only for Massa to be punished by the officials with Hamilton finishing down in seventh.
Vettel roared off the line and set about building up a comfortable lead, but behind him Button took advantage of a poor start by Alonso in the Ferrari to take second place at the first corner, building up a three second lead before the first round of pit stops at the Buddh International Circuit near Delhi. Button did his best to close on Vettel, but in truth the McLaren man never looked like causing an upset.
Hamilton, starting down the field for ignoring yellow flags in practice, fell behind Massa at the start and found himself stuck behind the Brazilian driver. He tried to pass Massa on the inside of turn five after the first round of pit stops only for the two to come into contact yet again. Massa was given a drive-through penalty for causing the collision, while Hamilton had to fit a new front wing and fresh tyres.
Massa suffered minimal damage in the collision, but was forced to retire after hitting a second kerb at speed and damaging his suspension. Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso, Adrian Sutil for Mercedes and Sergio Perez for Sauber made up the top 10.
Vitaly Petrov and Bruno senna were 11th and 12th for Enstone-based Renault, with Rubens Barrichello 15th for Williams. Teammate Pastor Maldonado was forced out of the race on the 12th lap.
