Indian Grand Prix did not spring any surprises. Sebastian Vettel won all practice sessions, secured his pole position in qualifying and showed excellent performance during the race finishing it on the podium and becoming the World Champion for the fourth time in a row. He needed to finish fifth or higher but Vettel wouldn’t be himself if he got lost in the peloton. The victory should be triumphant.
On the third lap the Red Bull racing pilot had to pit due to nose cone change which set him back a lot but he managed to restore status quo. Mark Webber, Vettel’s teammate, was setting the pace for almost 20 laps taking the lead of the peloton on the 9th lap. Later, after a series of pits he let Vettel pass him but was keeping second. However on the 40th lap he had to stop his car on the engineer’s signal due to generator failure. It was the third retirement during the last four races. Apparently, the team puts all effort into the car of the prize pilot.
Pit strategy and tire selection was predictably playing a big part in India. Pirelli brought Soft and Medium compounds to Delhi. Some of the teams decided to sacrifice their qualifying results but keep the Soft tires for the main race. They were giving almost 1 second per lap advantage in comparison with the Medium compounds. As a result, drawing of tire lottery took Nico Rosberg from Mercedes to the second position and Romain Grosjean from Lotus to the third one. The latter was one of the few participants who chose the strategy of one pit for the whole race!
All in all, by securing his victory in Delhi Sebastian Vettel becomes the World Champion for the fourth time and Red Bull racing team wins the Constructors Championship. It’s all clear here. The fate of silver and bronze prizes will be determined next Sunday in Abu Dhabi. Here are the current standings:
1. Sebastian Vettel, 322
2. Fernando Alonso, 207
3. Kimi Räikkönen, 183
4. Lewis Hamilton, 169
5. Mark Webber, 148
Meanwhile mass media spreads the information (or rumours) that Sergey Sirotkin who was supposed to join Sauber team in 2014 is thought to lose this opportunity as the government companies under the direction of his father had not fully complied with their commitments having paid only €4 million out of €22 million. But in her interview before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber team principal, got round this question saying they were still conducting the work with Sergey and the final decision which prize pilot to choose would be made by the team.
