Reigning two-time world champion and current leader Sebastian Vettel went into the Indian Grand Prix searching for his fourth straight F1 triumph.
The German claimed a lights-to-flag victory in a comfortable manner while his main championship rival, Fernando Alonso, grabbed second late-on.
With three races now left this year, Vettel leads Alonso by 13 points in the drivers' standings.
Read how it all unfolded at the Buddh International Circuit in our lap-by-lap coverage below.
Morning all. Are the Red Bulls going to sprint away and boss this race?
The cars will arrive on the grid shortly. The race begins at 9.30am.
You would hope that there's no team orders out on track today. For example, if Webber gets ahead of Vettel, will the team instruct the Aussie to move aside to benefit the German?
It's national anthem time. Just over ten minutes until we get underway.
Force India's team principal Vijay Mallya says that he is very proud of the circuit at his home Grand Prix.
The Force Indias haven't had the best qualifying though. Hulkenburg starts 12th, Di Resta 16th.
Di Resta tells Sky Sports F1 that going forward is all that he can do. The Scot could nick a points-scoring finish I reckon.
Strategy is all important today and it's not entirely sure whether the one-stop or two-stop tactic is the quickest.
Pole-sitter Vettel takes a six-point lead into this race following his three straight successes in Korea, Japan and Singapore. It's hard to look past the German for yet another Asian triumph.
There's two DRS zones in India and the second is on the mighty straight. The first lap is going to be crucial, as ever. If the Red Bulls are passed then it's sure to be a cracking race.
The tyre covers are coming off and we're about to have the formation lap.
Vettel will lead the other 23 cars around once before five red lights illuminate, go out and we get underway!
The run to the first corner is the third-shortest on the calendar here. The big moves could happen later in the lap.
Hamilton reports back to his team that his radio quality isn't good.
Vettel completes his circuit and we're moments away from the off.
We are GO GO GO in India!
Vettel stays ahead of Webber but Button is up on Hamilton.
Unfortunately, Vettel is streaking clear at the front.
Hamilton, Button and Alonso are having a super battle for third place.
Vettel leads from Webber, with Button heading Alonso and Hamilton.
One man with a problem is Schumacher. The German has suffered a right-rear puncture and has to pit.
As the drivers cross the line for a second time, DRS is enabled.
Alonso is much quicker on the straights but is losing time to Button in the twistier sections.
It doesn't matter though as Alonso passes Button for third place on the long straight.
Vettel's lead over Webber is 2.5 seconds.
Hamilton slipstreams Button and then overtakes his teammate for fourth.
McLaren appear to have got their gear ratios wrong as they're topping out far too early on the straights. Massa is the latest man to line-up a pass on Button.
Vettel is approaching the lagging Schumacher and the seven-time world champion is about to be lapped.
Championship leader Vettel isn't getting away from Webber too much, mind. The gap back to the other Red Bull is still around 2.8s.
Alonso is a further 4.5s behind and he somehow needs to try and grab second.
We're a sixth of the way through this race and the main action is the battle for fifth place. Button currently has it but he's being closed down by Massa and Raikkonen.
There's also a four-way battle for 10th place. Rosberg is the man there at the moment but Maldonado, Grosjean and Senna are close by.
Webber sets the fastest lap with a 1:32.033.
Vettel extinguishes that stat by putting in a 1:31.695.
Massa catches Button every time on the straight but he's always just a tad too far back to make the pass.
Perez is just about holding off Hulkenburg for eighth place. Great battle between the young duo.
And the Force India gets a good tow on the straight to get past.
Webber is the quickest man out there at the moment, he's just set two fastest laps but Vettel remains 3.6s ahead.
Looks like Perez is going to have to two-stop as he pits for a fresh set of rubber.
Maldonado loses out big time on the straight. He's passed by both Grosjean and teammate Senna and now sits 12th.
Vettel continues to creep further ahead. The German's lead is now over four seconds. He's led in Formula 1 for over 160 laps in a row now. Mad.
PUNCTURE! Perez is the man to suffer as he clips Ricciardo's front wing. Almost exactly the same as what happened to Schumacher earlier.
Perez comes in for a second time then and he's now got a set of the harder tyres on. They should see him to the end of the race.
Perez seems to have damage to his car and he's come in for the first retirement of the race.
Vettel sets a new fastest lap by crossing the line in 1:30.637.
Poor from Webber. He's lost a load of time to Vettel by getting caught up with the backmarkers and now only leads Alonso by a couple of seconds.
Alonso's right up on Webber as Hamilton reports back to his team that the car feels better.
TOP 10 UPDATE: 1 Vettel 2 Webber 3 Alonso 4 Hamilton 5 Button 6 Massa 7 Raikkonen 8 Hulkenburg 9 Grosjean 10 Rosberg
Button pits for a set of the harder tyres and they could see him to the end.
Blimey. Vettel's lead over Webber is now over 10 seconds and this race is all but over in truth. Shame.
Raikkonen was still just behind Massa but he's decided to pit for his hard tyres. Rosberg and Maldonado also pit.
All the big guns are now coming in as Massa trundles down the pit lane.
The Brazilian comes out just ahead of Raikkonen but the Finn is soon past as turn two. The Ferrari has DRS though and retakes the position on the straight.
Alonso pits from third and the Ferrari boys deliver a 2.8s stop. Whoosh!
CONTACT! Maldonado is the latest man to have a puncture as he makes contact with Kobayashi. The Venezuelan has to limp back to the pit and he actually held up Vettel, who lost around two-and-a-half seconds.
Webber has also pitted and came out only just ahead of Alonso.
Hamilton and Vettel are yet to stop but the Brit has just come in for his stop.
As well as getting some fresh rubber, Hamilton also had his steering wheel replaced. Could be to do with the radio problems he reported earlier.
Vettel pits from the lead and the Red Bull team deliver a 2.6s stop for the Championship leader.
Alonso just can't get close enough to make the pass on Webber. He really needs to in terms of the world championship.
Grosjean finally pits and he started on the hard tyres so it'll be the softs for the remaining 23 laps.
Schumacher is under investigation for seemingly ignoring blue flags (the ones waved at you when you have to let a car lap you).
Hamilton is one of the fastest men out there at the moment and is catching the Webber-Alonso battle.
With 20 laps to go, this race is only going one way.
TOP 10 UPDATE: 1 Vettel 2 Webber 3 Alonso 4 Hamilton 5 Button 6 Massa 7 Raikkonen 8 Hulkenburg 9 Grosjean 10 Rosberg
Hamilton is now 6.2s behind Alonso, who has dropped two seconds behind Webber. Vettel's lead is around the 11-second mark.
The frontrunners are now posting times under 1:30.
De La Rosa is the second man to retire because of a brake failure.
The HRT came to a stop at the end of the back straight and DRS has been disabled because of the dangers down there.
Webber has lost his KERS and now Alonso is all over the back of the Red Bull once more.
It doesn't take Alonso long to get past Webber and he's now second behind the runaway Vettel.
As it stands, Vettel will open up a 13-point gap to Alonso in the drivers' championship.
10 laps to go.
Webber's KERS problem means that Hamilton is now catching the Aussie rapidly. He could steal the final podium place.
Senna gets the job done on Rosberg for the final points-scoring position.
Hamiton's cut the gap to Webber to 2.1s as Alonso sets the fastest lap.
Vettel's car is throwing up sparks and he's slowing down a little.
TOP 10 UPDATE: 1 Vettel 2 Alonso 3 Webber 4 Hamilton 5 Button 6 Massa 7 Raikkonen 8 Hulkenburg 9 Grosjean 10 Senna
Five laps remaining.
Hamilton is 1.5s behind Webber. Can the Englishman nick a place on the podium?
Remarkably, Vettel has now led in Formula 1 for 200 consecutive laps.
Schumacher's car has a problem and he's retired the car.
Hamilton is getting closer to Webber but he goes wide in turn three and he's running out of time.
FINAL LAP
SEBASTIAN VETTEL WINS THE INDIAN GRAND PRIX!
Alonso gets second, Webber third and Hamilton fourth.
That's Vettel's fourth win in a row and he snatched the fastest lap on the last.
FINAL TOP 10: 1 Vettel 2 Alonso 3 Webber 4 Hamilton 5 Button 6 Massa 7 Raikkonen 8 Hulkenburg 9 Grosjean 10 Senna
Thanks for joining Sports Mole this morning. The next race is in Abu Dhabi next weekend. We'll see you then.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
