Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel cruised to his fourth consecutive win and extended his lead this year’s title race to 13 points when he steered his Red Bull car to victory in Sunday’s Indian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old German led from pole to the chequered flag to come home ahead of nearest championship rival Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber finished third, the Australian fending off a strong late challenge from Lewis Hamilton of McLaren who finished fourth ahead of his team-mate and fellow Briton Jenson Button.
Felipe Massa came home sixth in the second Ferrari ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus and 10th placed Bruno Senna of Williams.
It was Vettel’s 26th win and he revelled in his familiar trick of adding the fastest lap of the race in the final lap and then standing atop of his car to milk the applause from the crowd.
After an exultant celebration on the victory podium, in front of many of the 65,000 crowd, he added: “It has been incredible. To come here both years, get the pole and win the race is fantastic. It is a very special Grand Prix and I really like this circuit.”