Grand Prix 2012 Indian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

With the championship nearing the climax, the F1 circus rolls into INDIA for the best race of the season! With Sebastian Vettel winning in Korea to make it three wins on the spin it seems highly likely that he will make it three consecutive titles after taking the lead of the championship from Fernando Alonso in the less competitive Ferrari but he took third in Korea to show that he wasn't giving up.

Korea saw the end of Lewis Hamilton's title chances after a dismal race where everything that could go wrong did go wrong and he ended up with half of the astroturf hanging off the car as he just about held onto 10th place from Sergio Perez. Korea was a less than spectacular race with the top 4 not racing at all with strict team orders in place to maintain formation in terms of the team mates as Alonso couldnt catch Webber so there was no overtaking at the front after the first few laps.

India is another Tilke track and while in theory it promises exciting racing, in 2011 it was the scene of one of the most dominant performances by Vettel as he completely destroyed the opposition and winning by a country mile. It seems that now Red Bull have managed to recapture their 2011 form with the double DNF at Monza being a watershed moment as Vettel has won every race since then. In contrast Monza was seen to be where Hamilton launched his title bid as he went into Singapore closing on Alonso in a faster car. But just 11 points in the next three races has wrecked this and his title hopes are now over.

Despite still being yet to win a Grand Prix yet this year, Kimi Raikkonen lies in third in the Championship with half a chance of landing the championship although it is plainly obvious that it will be impossible for Kimi to catch Alonso and Vettel without winning probably at least 2 of the remaining races, and while Lotus is quick enough for solid points, Kimi is still falling short of the podium and this, along with Red Bulls resurgence means that it's really a 2 horse race with Vettel and Alonso.

Alonso has now not won since Germany and his once formidable 40 point lead has been completely wiped out and he's now second in the championship, this won't have been helped by DNF's in Belgium and Japan, races where Vettel took 43 points and that's where the gap was reduced and while i don't think these incidents will have cost him the title, it will have made it a helluva lot more difficult, particularly with the pace of the Red Bull. Now, it's a case of whoever finishes ahead of each other the most times between now and Brazil, at the moment I would say Vettel is the clear favourite unless the Red Bull's reliability gremlins return.

Write up of the best circuit on the calendar and we are all really privileged to have a Grand Prix there - http://cliptheapex.com/pages/buddh-international-circuit/
 
The straight is not long enough for Tilke. If he lengthened it by a mile he could then have really sharp corners at both ends, have another straight form turn one to a new turn five, then after turn eleven he could have a zigzag pattern to a new turn fourteen (this also takes into account losing turns two, three and four).
 
The Pits It is for Brazil. Clearly the FIA think the championship will be over before we get there as well.

If its not Vettel and Alonso will have to choose whether to run the 2013 tyres and compromise their race set up at the most important time. …. but it will probably be all over by then anyway.
 
What a surprise Perez is ill towards the end of the season following his move to McLaren. I wouldn't be surprised if this is to see what Gutierrez is made of. After all Sauber took Kobayashi on after only 2 good Grand Prix.
 
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