Sebastian Vettel easily won a new top starting position in qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix. The Red Bull racer took a lap with a softer mix in the final part of the qualifiers with a time of 1: 24.119, which was three-quarters of a second faster than his closest followers, Nic Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Due to the large differences in the performance of hard and soft tires, a lot of attention was paid to tactics in the last part. Vettel put on soft tires in the last attempt, and his teammate harder, so it's no surprise that both Mercedes racers were pushed out of second place. The Australian is not disappointed, however, as he will start the race on tires that are closer to his heart.
In the last attempt, Felipe Massa took the best lap and broke through to fifth place, thus again beating his teammate Fernando Alonso in sixth place. Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg ranked behind Ferrari racers, while McLaren Sergio Perez and Jenson Buttn finished last in the top ten.
Romain Grosjean, who predicted an attack on the Red Bull team before the race, surprisingly dropped out in the first half. Like Vettel, he took a risk with a harder version of the tires, but due to a few mistakes in the fast laps, he ran out of range until the second part of the qualifiers. The Frenchman shook his head when returning to the pits, but that didn’t help him. He will start the race from the ninth row alongside Williams racer Pastor Maldonado.
All attention is now moving to a race where Sebastian Vettel can win his fourth consecutive championship title. All he needs to do is place in the top five, while his team, with a 129-point advantage over Ferrari, will have to wait at least until the race in Abu Dhabi for the crown of constructor champion.
Indian GP results, qualifications:
Q3 | Racer | The team | Hour | Circles |
1. |
Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull |
01:24.119 |
12 |
2. |
Nico Rosberg | Mercedes |
01:24.871 |
21 |
3. |
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
01:24.941 |
20 |
4. |
Mark Webber | Red Bull |
01:25.047 |
17 |
5. |
Felipe Massa | Ferrari |
01:25.201 |
19 |
6. |
Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus |
01:25.248 |
18 |
7. |
Nico Hulkenberg | Clean |
01:25.334 |
19 |
8. |
Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
01:25.826 |
15 |
9. |
Sergio Perez | McLaren |
01:26.153 |
21 |
10. |
Jenson Button | McLaren |
01:26.847 |
23 |
Q2 | ||||
11. |
Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso |
01:25.519 |
14 |
12. |
Paul di Resta | Force India |
01:25.711 |
15 |
13. |
Adrian Sutil | Force India |
01:25.740 |
16 |
14. |
Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso |
01:25.798 |
14 |
15. |
Valtteri Bottas | Williams |
01:26.134 |
15 |
16. |
Esteban Gutierrez | Clean |
01:26.336 |
11 |
Q1 | ||||
17. |
Romain Grosjean | Lotus |
01:26.577 |
7 |
18. |
Pastor Maldonado | Williams |
01:26.842 |
9 |
19. |
Jules Bianchi | Marussia |
01:26.970 |
8 |
20. |
Giedo van der Garde | Caterham |
01:27.105 |
6 |
21. |
Charles Pic | Caterham |
01:27.487 |
7 |
22. |
Max Chilton | Marussia |
01:28.138 |
8 |
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