Top ten pictures from the 2012 Indian Grand Prix

2012 Indian Grand Prix

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The top ten pictures which tell the story of the Indian Grand Prix.

Esteban Gutierrez, Friday practice

Esteban Gutierrez got the call-up to participate in an F1 session for the first time on Friday morning as Sergio Perez was unwell – or so the team claimed.

Gutierrez survived a high-speed spin at this point on the track without hitting anything as he shared a track with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton (in the background) for the first time.

Kimi Raikkonen, Saturday

Qualifying did not go according to plan for Kimi Raikkonen who was disappointed to find himself only seventh on the grid.

Nico Rosberg, Saturday

Lock-ups were a common sight at the blind turn three. Rosberg had a good run on used soft tyres in Q2 but elected not to set a time in Q3 to save tyres.

The race was a disappointment as he came in a point-less 11th, but at least this time he made it through the first lap without being hit by someone.

Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, Saturday

Fernando Alonso tried with all his might but he couldn’t get in front of Vettel when it mattered. The Ferrari driver started fifth, four places behind the reigning champion, but rose to second by the chequered flag.

Paul di Resta, Indian Grand Prix

It was an important weekend for Force India in their home Grand Prix, but team owner Vijay Mallya was unhappy that journalists were more interested in quizzing him about his struggling business interests rather than his F1 team.

Paul di Resta had a frustrating race to 12th while team mate Nico Hulkenberg brought home eighth-place points to give Mallya some much-needed good news.

Start, Indian Grand Prix

Vettel made sure he kept team mate Mark Webber behind at the start while Hamilton’s poor getaway from third meant Red Bull’s position would not be challenged on the crucial first lap.

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, Indian Grand Prix

Having fallen behind Jenson Button at the start, Hamilton teed up his team mate for a pass in the second DRS zone early on in the race.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, Indian Grand Prix

For fifty-nine-and-three-quarter laps of the sixty-lap race Felipe Massa had Raikkonen filling his mirrors. Raikkonen briefly got past after their pit stops, and the pair raced towards the DRS activation line on the entry to turn three side-by-side.

Neither wanted to be first across the line, giving the other the benefit of the speed boost. Massa made sure he crossed it after Raikkonen and easily re-passed the Lotus as they came out of the corner.

“I managed to come out of pit lane in front, but then I let him through at turn three because he was still very close and I wanted to have the DRS down the straight,” said Massa. “I think he realised that, but by then it was too late and I had the advantage and managed to get by.”

Charles Pic, Indian Grand Prix

Charles Pic’s efforts earned high praise from his team. He kept Vitaly Petrov behind in the opening laps and stayed on terms with the Caterhams until late in the race.

Red Bull, Indian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel clinched his fourth win in a row as Red Bull continued to exert their dominance. The team can win the constructors’ championship in the next race, but the drivers’ title won’t be decided for at least two more rounds.

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Image © Sauber F1 Team, Lotus F1 Team/LAT, Mercedes/Hoch Zwei, Pirelli/LAT, Sahara Force India F1 Team, Red Bull/Getty Images, McLaren/LAT, Lotus F1 Team/LAT, Marussia, Red Bull/Getty Images

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on “Top ten pictures from the 2012 Indian Grand Prix”

  1. “I managed to come out of pit lane in front, but then I let him through at turn three because he was still very close and I wanted to have the DRS down the straight,” said Massa. “I think he realised that, but by then it was too late and I had the advantage and managed to get by.”

    Massa was clever with this, but I can only be dissapointed drivers resort to this kind of strategy. I’m not judging them, it’s their job to find the best way to pass. We’ve seen it in Canada earlier this year, too. Hamilton waiting until the DRS zone to make the (obvious and easiest) move. It’s a massive drawback to the DRS, because it spoils what could be a massive challenge for the position but ends up being a boring overtake in the middle of one of the longest straights in the calendar.

    1. @fer-no65 I know what you mean – nothing against Massa for having the presence of mind to put one over Raikkonen that way, but is this what motor racing should be about? No.

      1. Keith,
        As a journalist, should you remain objective and not profer up your own personal opinions?
        Just a thought

        1. @unklegsif I don’t believe striving for objectivity and having opinions are mutually exclusive.

          To put it another way, I don’t think any human can be perfectly objective and I think we are all predisposed to have opinions about subjects that interest us. That does not mean we should not try to be objective about things, nor does it mean we should not try to offer reasoned opinions that are grounded in facts. I hope I get somewhere near that lofty goal on my better days.

        2. I often feel that many grumble about DRS knowing that KC does not like it!

          1. @rocky I don’t care what KC thinks. I grumble about DRS because I don’t like SOME of the concept behind it. Used properly, it’s not all that bad.

        3. And being objective about DRS, this is a perfect example of one of its many weaknesses.

        4. Isn’t that what the comments are for?

          1. This! He just reported the facts in the actual article while wearing his ‘journalist hat’ and then gave a personal opinion in the comments section while wearing his ‘F1 fan hat’. That’s how I read it.

        5. @unklegsif I’d agree with you if this was a purely F1 news-based website, but it’s not. The banner reads ‘The Formula 1 Blog’, and a blog should include opinions and comment articles. If Keith worked for the BBC or Autosport then you’d be right, but he doesn’t.

          1. fair enough… my bad….

    2. This kind of move was somehow predictable since the introduction of DRS. I remember Turkey 2011 the overtake of Massa against Rosberg, only to be overtook some corners later in the DRS zone by Rosberg. That was so obvious on that race that such strategy could be used by drivers. It is sad for me too.

    3. To be fair, Massa might have done the same thing even without the DRS. He had such a speed advantage he could probably have overtaken with just a tow down the straight.

      1. @george yeah, but that’s always the case without DRS. No one would’ve been so eager to stay behind if the DRS zone wasn’t there, cuz the effect of the DRS is far greater than the tow.

        1. @fer-no65 Perhaps, my thinking is that in motor racing sometimes you take one step backwards to take two steps forward; be that by stealing DRS, letting someone take an inside line for a corner then cutting back, starting on harder tyres, saving fuel, saving KERS, making less pit stops, etc.

          DRS always makes me think of the old slipstreaming battles of the 50s and 60s, sometimes being behind is an advantage so long as the slipstream effect is large enough (see Alonso on lap 1 for that matter). So I would disagree with @keithcollantine that this isn’t what motorsport is about. DRS may not be what we as viewers and fans like to see, but as a driver I suspect I would prefer another tactical opportunity as opposed to having no reasonable chance to overtake*.

          Having said all that, I’ve always had the same stance on DRS which is that it is fine as a temporary solution, but what we really need is cars that can follow each other around corners, at which point it should be removed.

          *Bear in mind I’m talking about DRS generally, not about this specific track, which we’ve never seen without it and therefore cant judge how easy it is to overtake.

          1. @george that’s why I said that I’m not judging the drivers, because they always try to work out the easiest way to overtake. But DRS isn’t streaming.

            I agree with you that the DRS is a reasonably good temporal solution. As I said above (and before, many times), I like some of the things about DRS. I’m not completely against it, but in some cases I am.

            For example (and in similar lines with this case) I didn’t like how Hamilton waited until the back straight in Canada to overtake Alonso, as he could’ve done it a couple of times even before that and still get away with it because he had a much much better car at that moment. Even in the same lap, he seemed to have a look at it but he ended up backing up, as (who can blame him) it’d be stupid to risk an overtake if the DRS zone granted him a risk-less overtake.

  2. That picture of Raikkonen and Massa is awesome. It looks like they’re driving parallel to an open drop. You don’t get any sense of the change in incline on the TV cameras.

  3. not so interesting this time. U could have incorporated something unique about India, like the culture

    1. Then I advice you to see McLaren Tooned! Episode 9…

  4. I miss the one with the yawning spectator.

  5. Interesting that DRS gets the most “comment column inches” after the Indian GP…the DRS in cricket is very controversial in India too! :p

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