Sebastian Vettel has won the Indian Grand Prix, and in doing so has claimed his fourth consecutive Formula One World Championship title.
The Red Bull ace clinched overall victory at the Buddh circuit, despite pitting in the opening laps of the race to swap his soft-compound tyres for medium rubber - leaving the rest of the field to surge ahead and eventually putting Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber into the lead.
Vettel was quick to regain his position, though, as a combination of deft overtaking and pit stops soon saw Vettel move from 18th position to fifth on the track. The German continued to chase down Webber, cutting an 18-second defecit to just 11 seconds before the Australian driver pitted, leaving Vettel to re-take the lead.
Both Red Bull drivers then lead a number of laps before Webber was forced to retire due to alternator problems. That issue meant he gifted second place to Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen, who himself was under attack from the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. The Finn held off as long as he could, but struggled to preserve his pace on fading tyres.
In the end, with eight laps remaining, it was Rosberg who was able to deploy DRS and take second place from Raikonnen. The Lotus driver faced yet more trouble as his pace continued to deteriorate, with a chasing pack lead by team-mate Romain Grosjean quickly catching up. Raikonnen let the Frenchman past to take third place with four laps remaining, while Ferrari's Felipe Massa also swept past to take fourth.
The final overtake for the Finnish driver came in the form of McLaren's Sergio Perez, who used his DRS to pass both Raikonnen and Lewis Hamilton and take fifth position.
Raikonnen was forced to pit for fresh tyres with just two laps to go, leaving him well down the field in seventh place.
The penultimate round of the 2013 Formula One World Championship will take place in Abu Dhabi on 3 November.
Indian Grand Prix, 27 October 2013
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
3. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
4. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
5. Sergio Perez (McLaren)
6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
7. Kimi Raikonnen (Lotus)
8. Paul Di Resta (Force India)
9. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
