Vettel clinches fourth title with Indian romp

Sebastian Vettel wrapped up his fourth consecutive world championship in style as he recorded his sixth consecutive win at the Indian Grand Prix.

The German once again showed his class as he held off a spirited challenge from Mark Webber for the majority of the race.

However, an alternator failure for Webber with 20 laps to go handed Vettel a comfortable winning margin of 29.8s.

Vettel’s victory ensures he joins an elite group of four-time world champions which include Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Alain Prost (four) and Michael Schumacher (seven).

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg finished second with a hard-charging Romain Grosjean claiming third.

Early front wing damage played some part in Fernando Alonso’s lowly 11th place finish, which ultimately ended any hope of denying Vettel the title.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo put a strong drive together to claim the final point in 10th position.

Polesitter Vettel appeared to make a sluggish start but he managed to recover to defend from both fast starting Mercedes to lead into the first corner.

Lewis Hamilton followed the Red Bull in second with Rosberg in third.

But the Mercedes duo could only hold their positions briefly as Felipe Massa used the tow on the back straight to move ahead of the pair.

His team-mate Alonso made contact with Jenson Button and Webber forcing the Ferrari to pit for a new front wing.

With the soft tyre life limited, Vettel, who had built up a 2.4s at the end of the opening lap, pitted on lap two to switch to the medium compound before rejoining in 17th position.

This gave Massa the lead which he held until lap nine when he dived into the pits handing Webber the advantage.

Webber showed strong pace on his tyres and set about building a lead.

Meanwhile Vettel had surged up to second as Massa, Hamilton, Rosberg, Raikkonen and Alonso all rejoined behind the German after their first round of stops.

While Webber’s pace was impressive, he eventually pitted on lap 29 for soft tyres and rejoined 10s behind his team-mate Vettel, who resumed the lead briefly.

Behind, Toro Rosso’s Ricciardo made swift but quiet progress to move into third, stretching his medium tyres to a 34-lap stint before his imminent stop.

After the flurry of second pit stops, Vettel emerged in the lead ahead of team-mate Webber with Raikkonen in third.

The real battle to keep an eye on was for the final podium position with Raikkonen, Rosberg and Massa all in the hunt.

However, drama struck on lap 40 when Webber coasted into retirement after being told by the team to stop the car due to an alternator failure.

The Australian’s demise promoted Raikkonen to second with Rosberg in third.

No such mechanical problems hit Vettel as he recorded his sixth consecutive win and wrapped up his fourth consecutive world championship.

A strong final stint from Rosberg saw him grab second from Raikkonen, who was told to save fuel.

Raikkonen’s drop in pace put him into the clutches of Grosjean and the Frenchman passed his team-mate for third with two laps remaining.

Massa was fourth ahead of McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Hamilton.

Raikkonen finished seventh with Force India’s Paul Di Resta eighth, Sutil ninth.

See below for full results

Points standings