India Grand Prix (2011) RESULT

India Grand Prix (2011)

The first Grand Prix in India see Red Bull on the front row with Button in the McLaren and Alonso in the Ferrari behind. Can Vettel take another win?

India is a fascinating country, still firmly in the past in parts and so much in the present in others. And the paradox of Formula One – with all its excesses – contrasting with streets teeming with pedal powered taxis could have been jarring. But it wasn’t.

The joy of Indians at the presence – finally – of F1 in their country was palpable, and the F1 circus managed to portray India as a warm, welcoming and fascinating country. Win, win.

The new F1 track looked good too, and it promised great action with a track unanimously praise by the drivers. But actually, and a little disappointingly, the inaugural race at the Buddh International Circuit near Delhi was, in the end, nothing more than an average race that gave us much of what we’ve come to expect this year in F1

Vettel had a good start and drove off in to the distance and Webber had a poor start and fell back. Button took Webber on the first lap and pushed hard to make the German work for yet another victory.

But although Button kept Vettel in his sights, and has been the only driver to really come close to being in touch with the dominant Red Bull driver all season, he never got close enough to cause Vettel problems. Still, second place to yet another Vettel win is a good result for McLaren.

Hamilton, on the other hand, still has a big magnet on the front of his car which draws Massa in to a coming-together at seemingly every race. This time it looked six of one and half a dozen of the other as Hamilton tried to take Massa on the inside. But the stewards didn’t see it that way, and Massa got a drive-through.

Hamilton had to jump in to the pits for a new nose but, despite that, recovered well to finish seventh. Massa, on the other hand, served his drive-through penalty and then played silly buggers with the big orange kerbs and broke his suspension. Not Massa’s race.

In yet another re-run of the 2011 season, Webber faded a little through the race allowing Alonso to join Vettel and McLaren on the podium.

Schumacher drove a really clever race, managing to out-point his team-mate Rosberg by bringing his Mercedes home in fifth place, with Rosberg just behind.

Vettel broke another gazillion records this weekend and McLaren clinched second place in the constructors championships. Jenson hasn’t quite done the same in the drivers’ championship, but if he keeps driving like this it’s a given.

Not the worse race of the season by a long way, but a shame it wasn’t more of a show for the first Indian Grand Prix.