INDIAN GP 2012 – “ALL IN ALL A FANTASTIC RACE"

Sebastian Vettel won the Indian Grand Prix for the second year running – but the World Champion almost didn’t make it to the winner’s circle.

“I switched off the car!” admitted Vettel. “I was told to park the car under the podium – I didn’t know how far away it was, I didn’t remember that from last year. I think that was the only big mistake that happened to us this weekend!” 

It took a push from Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who finished third, to get Vettel into the number 1 slot – the fifth time he has been there this year and the fourth in a row. The reigning World Champion now has a 13–point lead over Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who finished second, with three races remaining in 2012.

Alonso was as defiant as ever after splitting the Red Bull pair despite starting fifth on the grid. Can he still win the title? “Of course,” said the Spaniard. “Yesterday there were 100 points, now there are 75 still to be won, and we are 13 behind. We know that we need to improve, we are not fast enough, especially on Saturdays, but hopefully we can improve this situation in Abu Dhabi or the USA. I’m still very optimistic.”

Webber lost his KERS booster system at one–third distance and was told by his team he had “weathered the storm brilliantly” by hanging on to third place ahead of a fast–closing Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren Mercedes.

“It’s so demoralising, that long straight without KERS!” said the Australian. “We have to screw around with the brake balance and lots of other things –– the guys have got a huge amount of plate–spinning to try and feed that into the cockpit for me. I’m happy with the way I drove, but we could have got more points today.”

Behind Hamilton was teammate Jenson Button while Felipe Massa brought his Ferrari home in sixth place. India’s Narain Karthikeyan, who had cooling issues on his HRT from the very early stages of the 60–lap race, again finished his home race, this time in 21^st place.

It was an unhappy day for Michael Schumacher, who was making his final appearance in India. The seven–time World Champion had to pit on the opening lap after picking up a puncture in a touch with Jean–Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso; he was later under investigation for allegedly ignoring blue flags, though later cleared by the race stewards; and he was the 22^nd and final classified finisher despite retiring after 55 laps.

It was Schumi’s natural successor Vettel who had the last word, on track and off it. “All in all a fantastic race,” he beamed, “and another very nice trophy from India!”

Along with the breath taking action on the track, the 65,000 fans at the Buddh International Circuit were greeted by some of the most well–known names in the country. From sportspersons like Harbhajan Singh and Virat Kohli, Olympic medallists Gagan Narang and Sushil Kumar to Bollywood celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, Gul Panag, Neha Dhupia, Dino Morea, Sonali Bendre and Mandira Bedi thronged to witness the second edition of the Indian Grand prix. Amongst the other prominent personalities were Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah.

The event also saw Ajay Devgn, and Sonakshi Sinha singing the national anthem along with singer Shaan and a performance by famous music director duo of Vishal– Shekhar.