Vettel widens points lead with Indian GP win

New Delhi, India – Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel put on another dominating performance to win Sunday's Indian Grand Prix and increase his lead over Fernando Alonso from Ferrari in the world championship point standings.

Vettel, the two-time defending Formula One world champion, won his fourth consecutive grand prix after starting on the pole and leading all 60 laps around the 3.192-mile Buddh International Circuit. He extended his lead over second-place finisher Alonso from six points to 13 with just three races to go.

Last year, Vettel started on the pole and led every lap to win the inaugural Indian GP.

"I think it's been an incredible two years to come here and get the pole on Saturday and win the race on Sunday," Vettel said after he notched his 26th career F1 win. "It's fantastic, and it's a very special grand prix. I don't know what it is about this circuit, but I really like the flow of it."

Vettel has led every lap in each of the last three grand prix -- Japan, Korea and India. It's the first time a driver has accomplished that feat in a F1 race since Ayrton Senna did it in 1989.

"A big thanks to the team," said Vettel, who won four races in a row for the first time in his F1 career. "Everyone is pushing very hard. All of us have been working hand in hand together."

Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, started second and ran in that position for most of the race until he experienced an issue with his KERS. That allowed Alonso to overtake Webber for the runner-up spot with 13 laps remaining.

"It's not easy at the moment to fight Red Bull, but we never give up," Alonso said. "We are happy today. We have to congratulate (Red Bull). They were fantastic all weekend."

Alonso, who started fifth, lost seven points to Vettel in the championship battle. Abu Dhabi (Nov. 4), Austin, Texas (Nov. 18) and Brazil (Nov. 25) are the remaining grand prix on this year's 20-round calendar.

"We lost points, but I think this was more or less the plan this weekend," Alonso noted. "We were not fast enough to competed against them, but we lost minimum points since we finished second. Better races will come."

Webber held off McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps to finish third.

"I enjoyed the fight today," Webber said. "It was a difficult race. It was very difficult for me to get into a rhythm. We had a few issues that we needed to manage with the car. Lewis and Fernando were very strong with the hard tire, and it was very difficult without KERS."

Jenson Button finished one spot behind his teammate, Hamilton, in fifth.

Felipe Massa from Ferrari took the sixth spot, followed by Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg from Force India. Raikkonen's teammate, Romain Grosjean, and Williams' Bruno Senna completed the top-10.