Sebastian Vettel’s 11th win means the only driver to have won more races in a season was Michael Schumacher in 2004.
| Sebastian Vettel | Mark Webber | |
| Qualifying position | 1 | 2 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q3) | 1’24.178 (-0.33) | 1’24.508 |
| Race position | 1 | 4 |
| Laps | 60/60 | 60/60 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 2 |
Red Bull drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | |
| Sebastian Vettel | 94.881 | 93.738 | 92.77 | 92.377 | 92.703 | 91.834 | 91.639 | 91.308 | 91.464 | 91.305 | 91.335 | 91.272 | 91.24 | 90.685 | 90.883 | 90.636 | 90.398 | 90.55 | 93.673 | 108.712 | 90.058 | 89.922 | 90.223 | 89.977 | 89.916 | 90.269 | 90.245 | 89.78 | 89.51 | 89.39 | 89.286 | 89.012 | 89.166 | 89.296 | 88.998 | 88.607 | 88.845 | 89.114 | 88.738 | 89.914 | 89.595 | 88.555 | 89.115 | 88.807 | 89.006 | 88.919 | 92.416 | 108.141 | 88.748 | 88.029 | 88.403 | 88.306 | 87.922 | 87.801 | 87.782 | 88.394 | 88.017 | 88.671 | 87.457 | 87.249 |
| Mark Webber | 96.909 | 94.487 | 93.259 | 93.206 | 93.452 | 92.276 | 91.851 | 91.542 | 91.451 | 91.421 | 91.641 | 91.27 | 91.525 | 91.617 | 91.246 | 94.486 | 109.384 | 90.454 | 90.328 | 90.456 | 90.235 | 90.402 | 90.193 | 89.916 | 90.481 | 90.318 | 90.682 | 89.985 | 89.744 | 90.009 | 89.537 | 90.302 | 89.458 | 89.67 | 89.931 | 90.406 | 92.925 | 108.817 | 89.822 | 90.311 | 89.904 | 89.486 | 89.095 | 89.164 | 88.76 | 88.832 | 88.924 | 89.473 | 88.861 | 89.545 | 88.623 | 88.994 | 88.612 | 88.508 | 88.952 | 87.92 | 87.908 | 87.559 | 87.52 | 88.486 |
Sebastian Vettel
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 21.415s |
| Pit stop 2 | Hard 21.449s |
Did two laps in Q3 that were good enough for pole position after Lewis Hamilton abandoned his last effort.
Vettel led easily at the start and even the appearance of Jenson Button in second place rarely caused him any concern.
He rattled off the fastest lap on the last lap of the race despite having KERS off and the engine turned down. That netted him his first perfect result of a win from pole, leading every lap and setting fastest lap.
“I enjoyed the time in the lead very much,” he said afterwards. “I had a little bit of a fight with Jenson. It was always around four seconds and strangely he kept closing in around the pit-stops. I don?óÔé¼Ôäót know, I was pushing very hard into the box and out of the box but we seemed to lose a little bit there so we need to understand.
“But on the circuit it was crucial to manage the tyres, make sure that you have enough of them left in the end, so all in all it was a very smooth race. The car was very well balanced. I felt even a little bit more confident on the hard tyres at the end, but overall a fantastic performance.”
When it was pointed out to him he’d also broken Nigel Mansell’s record for leading the most laps during a season he remarked: “I’m surprised there was a record left not held by Michael.”
At the rate he’s going, even some of Michael Schumacher’s records could start to come under threat.
Sebastian Vettel 2011 form guide
Mark Webber
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 21.392s |
| Pit stop 2 | Hard 21.24s |
Webber had to abort his second run in qualifying because of Felipe Massa’s crash, but even so it’s doubtful he would have beaten Vettel’s time.
Webber lost out to Button on the run down to turn four. He put the McLaren driver under some pressure in the first stint but, as has often been the case in 2011, his lap times dropped off towards the end of his stint.
This was his undoing when he made his second stop early, switching to hard tyres sooner than Fernando Alonso and dropping behind the Ferrari.
Alonso came out of the pits just in front of Webber but the Red Bull driver ran wide at turn three on the next lap, losing an opportunity to use DRS to pass the Ferrari.
He finished in fourth, just over a second behind Alonso. “It?óÔé¼Ôäós pretty much the general story of this year,” he said.
“I just don’t have the pace at the end of the stints, so I run out of tyres and then lose strategy, it means I have to pit earlier and it makes life harder. In the end, I wasn?óÔé¼Ôäót quick enough. I had a reasonable pace at the start of the stints, but as they go on, we go back into the clutches of the other guys.”
2011 Indian Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Red Bull/Getty images
celeste (@celeste)
31st October 2011, 18:10
It was really sad to see Mark Webber interview on BBC after the race.
Beside this was the first time he appears at the team picture when he didn´t win a trophy on the season.
tasimana
31st October 2011, 19:22
Mark can rediscover the mojo in 2013 but vettel will be even better. If he can jag a win this will give him confidence.
David BR (@david-br)
31st October 2011, 20:36
Wow the Indian GP must have been dull, I fell asleep for a year! What happened in 2012 then? ;)
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
1st November 2011, 1:47
It’s still 2011 mate. But Mark will need 2012 to rediscover his mojo :P
David BR (@david-br)
31st October 2011, 20:48
As for Webber, I don’t know what’s more disheartening, his performance this year, or Red Bull’s apparent total lack of interest in him doing any better. I don’t see him improving next year (and will he still be around in 2013? Doubt it.) A shame if so because I think this season has been a real let down with Vettel running away with the championship.
Mike (@mike)
3rd November 2011, 1:39
Know what you mean :/
Based on the drastic change between 2010 and 2011 it’s not hard to assume that the cars has made much of the difference.
Franton
31st October 2011, 19:40
Mark needs to find a top team that doesn’t favour one driver over another. Problem is all the McLaren seats are filled …
I refuse to believe Mark is that slow, especially compared to last year. I just don’t think he’s getting 50/50 treatment.
David-A (@david-a)
31st October 2011, 19:43
To quote myself:
JCost (@jcost)
1st November 2011, 9:44
Yes, Vettel has proved he’s clearly better than Mark.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
31st October 2011, 20:40
I don’t think he’s that slow either, but it’s just a lot of small things just not coming together for him. The main thing is that (in his own words from yesterday’s BBC interview) he just doesn’t have the pace at the end of the stints this year, and that’s usually where Sebastian is able to put in some impressive laps.
Even so, he’s had a few reasonable races this year. Even last Saturday he was less than a tenth down on Seb’s first run (and then he didn’t get the chance for a second lap because of Massa’s yellow flag), and in Spa and Silverstone he was closing on Sebastian at the end of the race, and of course in Germany and China he also drove well, and arguably better than Vettel.
Other than that, I mostly agree with David A. (although saying Vettel gifted Webber his Silverstone win, when Mark got him off the line, I would not agree with). Vettel has been “cracking it down the middle of the fairway” (Webber’s words), whereas Mark has been making it a little difficult for himself at times (most notably off the line).
celeste (@celeste)
1st November 2011, 0:01
I think he is getting it.
But by his own admition he is having a really hard time with tires.
I guess Pirelli threats better smoth dirvers (Vettel, Button, Perez) than agresive ons (Webber, Hamilton) and thats where they have trouble.
Is good to have a fast car, I know that it is for debate but I don´t think McLaren are that much slow that RBR; but getting the tires strategy and making them last is probably the key point for this season.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
2nd November 2011, 20:59
No, Vettel IS that good.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
31st October 2011, 20:25
There was hope, after the summer break, that we would get – not an actual championship fight – but at least Vettel being given a run for his money, with Button, Alonso, and Hamilton taking wins. Webber even went as far as saying that Vettel’s earlier dominance was now gone, and would not reappear.
I guess it’s nice for Vettel fans to have generally exciting races and seeing your guy win, but for me the inevitability of P1 is becoming a bit of a turn-off.
David-A (@david-a)
31st October 2011, 20:32
As a Vettel fan, you’re right about it being nice to see him win and will make the most of it while it lasts (hopefully for a long time :P ). As an F1 fan, it’d be nice not just to see the other 2010 contenders win over and over, but see Massa, Mercedes, Renault and even some of the lower teams also challenge for wins or at least podiums.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
31st October 2011, 20:46
In that respect, it would be nice (as someone but I forgot who pointed out the other day) to have some of the 2009-like shifts in performance over the course of the season, so many get their turn at the front, and the gaps were historically small. This year, however, the differences in performance are both constant and pretty large. Mercedes, especially, is having a very boring season; 1 second behind Ferrari, and half a second in front of the midfield, Rosberg and Schumacher (now that the latter has ironed out the early-season clumsiness) only have each other to fight. Anyway, drifting off-topic.
electrolite (@electrolite)
31st October 2011, 22:09
If he calls that a fight, then how did he describe Nurburgring?
bosyber (@bosyber)
1st November 2011, 9:23
@electrolite, I always start to tune out when he says those things.
It is as if he, like Horner, is always trying to show how they really had to fight for it, while the reality is, they have a great car, and Vettel just knows how to use it supremely well so when things go according to plan, they can take time to disagree about Vettel going for a fastest lap or not.
They should just admit that you are in another league this year, please, but instead they still want to be the plucky underdog. Sorry for that rant, had to get it off my chest!
bosyber (@bosyber)
1st November 2011, 9:25
They are in a different league, although I won’t protest too much if you thank me for acknowledging you are too :)
sharmin. (@spartle)
1st November 2011, 21:00
They might be in a different league but acknowledging that themselves would probably cause more claims of cockiness and arrogance more than anything.
If you say you’re too fast for the rest then you are arrogant but if you don’t say it then you’re trying to be the ‘plucky underdog’? Doesn’t make any sense!
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
1st November 2011, 2:48
Webber since his contract for 2012 haven’t made any significant improvement relative to his team-mate,not sure whether this is the reason that this guy is relaxing a bit.
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
1st November 2011, 12:23
I’d really like to see Webber retire with some dignity. Vettel’s made him look an idiot this year, and we all know Mark’s a great driver. Seb’s in a league of his own. Call it the car, call it always starting from poll, doesn’t really matter. He’s trounced his team mate. Mark never bounced back from 2010 like everyone expected him to. I’d like to see a new young gunner alongside Seb to give him a bit of a challenge.
I don’t see any point in Mark going elsewhere. His best chance at a championship is with the team he’s currently with, and it’s just not happening, and won’t happen after Sebastien’s taste of success.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
2nd November 2011, 21:04
What can I say, fantastic result from Vettel.
To get fastest lap while your KERS is broken AND engine turned down? That’s just not right!