Reigning Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel rattled off his fourth successive win of the season in the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday to tighten his grip on the 2012 title with three races remaining.
The 25-year-old German led all the way from his pole position start to pull 13 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who finished ten seconds behind in the race near New Delhi.
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber took third place ahead of McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
It was Vettel’s 26th win and he revelled in his familiar trick of adding the fastest lap of the race in the final lap and then standing atop of his car to milk the applause from the crowd.
Aiming to become Formula One’s youngest triple champion the German said: “Two years and two wins here, it’s a very special Grand Prix, I don’t know what it is about this circuit.
“A big thanks to my team, we’re all pushing very hard.
“This is another good step (to the title) for us but there is still a long way to go.”
Alonso commented: “It’s not easy at the moment to fight with Red Bull but we will never give up.”
The only danger to Vettel in an otherwise seamless success came in the closing laps when sparks sprayed out from underneath his car’s front spoiler but there was no trouble.
Felipe Massa finished sixth in the second Ferrari ahead of his old friend Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus and 10th-placed Bruno Senna of Williams.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was 13th in his Toro Rosso.
The next race is on November 4 in Abu Dhabi, where Vettel won his first world title in 2010 ahead of Alonso in what was then the season finale.