New track,Old story

Sebastian Vettel underlines his dominance with 11th win in 17 races at the inaugural IGP

Perhaps taking a cue from what is an odd name for a sport,Sebastian Vettel uses a simple formula but an extremely effective one. He flies off to the pole on Saturdays,gallops off the blocks on race days,keeps the opportunists at bay at Turn One and pushes the pedal of the ultra-fast and reliable Red Bull to take it to another level. Before Sunday,it had worked eight out of 12 times for the reigning double champion in 2011. At the Buddh International Circuit,in a manner befitting a driver who has wrapped up the title well in advance,he made it nine out of 13 P1s,decimating the field to win the maiden Grand Prix of India.

While it was mayhem behind him,Vettel made a typically error-free start,deftly negotiated the first three tricky turns,following which the race was his to lose. Jenson Button of McLaren,who made the most of mistakes by Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso,did try to push him towards the end,but couldnt do much and had to be content with a second-place finish. Alonso held off Red Bulls Webber to bring his Ferrari home third.

No dead rubber,this

In the process,Vettel also answered questions about his motivation in dead rubbers,having won his second race after wrapping up the title in Japan earlier this month. The whole team is still very hungry,and the best thing is that we have two more races to go, said a beaming Vettel after his 11th this year,two shy of Michael Schumachers record of the most number of wins in one season.

Consider this. The German broke Nigel Mansells long standing record of leading 692 laps in one season on the 44th lap around the circuit. By the end of the race,he had led more laps in 2011 than Sundays runner-up Button has in his decade-long career. And all this while he is just 24. To put it in perspective,Michael Schumacher,at the same age,was one year away from winning the first of his seven titles. I am very proud to be the winner of the first Indian Grand Prix. It has been a great event and a great race, Vettel added.

Indeed as the last couple of fans a Hermes Birkin-toting woman and her partner in a Crimson-coloured Ferrari shirt and a Red Bull cap made their way out of the main grandstand sporting a satisfied grin,it was a fair indication that the event was a big hit as a spectacle. But was it gripping from the sporting point of view? The result didnt seem to suggest so.

In a build up to the event,there was plenty of speculation about how the new track was going to be. Everyone seemed to be expecting plenty of action and overtaking,while the experts did not rule out an element of surprise in terms of result. A Red Bull,a McLaren and a Ferrari the three most dominant cars this season,in that order on the podium didnt quite corroborate that.

Early sparks

Sure enough,there were a few sparks. The start witnessed a few collisions but then starts in F1 invariably do and Button and Webber provided some early thrills; later,Spaniard Alonso fought hard to stave off Webber from taking the podium. In between,a new chapter was added in the Felipe Massa-Lewis Hamilton rivalry when the Brazilians Ferrari rammed into the Britons McLaren,triggering collective gasps in the stands,followed by roars of laughter for the giant screens showed comedian Rowan Mr Bean Atkinson squirming in Lewiss garage after watching the replays.

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But somehow the two drivers carried on,although Massa,who was given a drive-through penalty for the incident,ended his day prematurely,hitting a high kerb on turn 8. The drama was over by the 41st lap,after which the fans just waited patiently for Vettel to finish the race,and Button hoping that the German made an uncharacteristic mistake.

As soon as Seb got into the rhythm at the start of the race,I couldnt do anything about it really, said Button,a statement that can also sum up the season so far. The 2009 champion,who is the next best driver on the grid this season,trails Vettel 374 by 134 points,while the next four drivers Button himself,Alonso,Webber and Hamilton are separated by 38 points.

Not surprisingly,Vettel doesnt want this dream year to end just yet. We have already achieved a lot this season,so in a way we dont want this season to end, he said.

Meanwhile,local fans also had something to cheer about with Force India driver Adrian Sutil finishing among points 9th,and Narain Karthikeyan punching above his weight or,rather,his cars weight to finish a creditable 17th,ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo who had replaced him earlier this season. I think finishing ahead of a highly rated driver like Daniel shows I am still fast enough and hungry, said Karthikeyan. Asked whats there for him next season,he said: We all like to push hard,dont we? Lets see. I think I have a good two years of racing ahead of me.

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Another veteran who,like Karthikeyan,was a content man after having finished ahead of a highly rated young pretender was,well,Michael Schumacher. Starting 11th,Mercedess Schumacher took the advantage of the first corner chaos,and had a flawless race thereafter to finish fifth,one better than team mate Nico Rosberg.

But if the result went almost unnoticed on Sunday,he has one person to blame: Baby Schumi,otherwise known as Sebastian Vettel.