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Vettel Wins In India; Takes Fourth World Championship

BUDDAH,
India- After seeing his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber end his race 20 laps from
the end with a alternator issue, Sebastian Vettel kept his cool and easily won
the Indian Grand Prix with over a 29 second lead to not only take his fifth
race in a row, but clinch his fourth consecutive world driving championship.

Nico Rosberg was second in his Mercedes, with Romain Grosjean, who started in
17th, finishing in third.

“I’m speechless,” Vettel said after claiming
the title. “I crossed the line and I was empty. I took ages to think about
something to say and it’s one of those moments when you wish to say many things
but you can’t. It’s been a phenomenal season. The spirit inside the team is so
strong that I said on the radio it gives me so much power; it’s a pleasure to
jump in the car and go out for the guys and just try to give it all I have. The
car was phenomenal today; it was phenomenal all season to be honest so I
couldn’t ask for more.”

The start
was clean, but not everyone got away unscathed. Fernando Alonso managed to hit
Webber in the back and Webber himself clipped Kimi Raikkonen, who was coming
alongside him. Alonso had a chunk of his left wing extracted, while Raikkonen
or Webber sustained no damage.

For the next
few laps, tire changes were happening because of the Pirelli tire compounds
having all sorts of trouble. Vettel held most of the lead, and only lost it to
Webber, before finally regaining the lead for good on lap 35, when the German
sustained a 12.1 second gap until five laps later when the Australian had his
alternator fail.

Rosberg
slotted into second, but Raikkonen was being pressured by his Lotus teammate
Grosjean and was running low on fuel. The Finn though, could not hold on, and
was passed in the final laps by not only Grosjean, but also by Felipe Massa,
Sergio Perez, and Lewis Hamilton.

But all
alone up front was Vettel, who crossed the line taking his fourth world drivers
title, tying Alain Prost with fourth world championships, now only having Juan
Manual Fangio and Michael Schumacher winning more driving titles.

Massa, Perez
and Hamilton continued on to finish fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively,
while Raikkonen ended up in seventh. Home town car drivers from Force India
Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil were next in eighth and ninth while Daniel
Riccardo brought his Toro Rosso entry home into the last point position in
tenth.

Upon taking
the finish, Vettel pulled a sort of NASCAR move and attempted a successful
donut, which the FIA fined him and his team around $30, 000 for the affair.

Still many felt including the German, that if it wasn’t for all the hard work
in the team, this would not have happened.

“I want to say a big thank you to the team, to all
the people that were behind us. It was for sure not an easy season, even if
people from the outside get the idea that we had it in our hands for quite a
while in the last couple of races. I think it was a difficult season all-in-all
and a difficult one for me personally; to receive boos even though you haven’t
done anything wrong. But to overcome that and to finally give the right answer
on the track and finally get the acceptance I think we are all looking for as racing
drivers makes me very proud. To join people like [Alain] Prost, [Juan Manuel] Fangio and Michael [Schumacher] is unbelievable.”

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