Sebastian Vettel Wins the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship for the Fourth Time at Indian Grand Prix

As the German crossed the finish line, almost 30 seconds clear of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, his team principal Christian Horner came on the radio to congratulate his young charge. "You've done it in style," Horner told Vettel. "You've joined the greats."

That, surely, is undeniable now. Vettel's detractors were still questioning at the start of this year whether the 26 year-old was simply being made to look good by his car.

But after yet another season in which he has barely put a foot wrong, utterly dominating his team mate Mark Webber - who was again desperately unfortunate in this race, being forced to retire from second place with an alternator failure - there can be no quibbling.

Vettel's and Red Bull's dominance may do nothing to help the overall spectacle - this was the German's sixth win on the trot, keeping him on target to tie Alberto Ascari's record of nine consecutive wins by the end of the season - but they cannot be faulted for that.

If you were to build the ideal prototype driver for modern-day Formula One, you would come up with something resembling Sebastian Vettel.

He may come across as a machine sometimes, but Vettel has a fun side as well. He certainly ended this race in plenty of style, defying both his team's orders and the regulations to perform some donuts on the start-finish straight before emerging from the smoke with his arms raised. A nice touch.

Hopping out of his RB9, Vettel then proceeded to bow down before his rocket ship, prostrating himself on the track, before running back to the pits where he leapt into the arms of its designer, Adrian Newey, and Horner; the three men intertwined for a short space of time.

Red Bull's brains trust deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they have propelled themselves to the pinnacle of the sport in such a short space of time, and then proceeded to stay there, as Vettel was quick to acknowledge in his emotional radio message earlier. "You give me so much strength," he said. "I love you guys. I love you."

In a performance that reflected his general dominance of the season, Vettel started on pole and led a procession throughout a large portion of the race.

Rosberg finished second in his Mercedes, while Romain Grosjean of Lotus took an incredible third having started 17th. Ferrrari's Fernando Alonso, who was the only driver still mathematically capable of catching Vettel, finished 11th after a disastrous start that saw him clip the back of Webber, causing damage which required a pit stop for a new nose section.

Alonso's misfortune was doubly fortunate for Vettel as it cancelled out the early pit stop the German was required to make due to the fragility of the soft Pirelli tyre that was brought to the race.

Alonso's afternoon was starting to look bleak and he came on the radio to tell his engineers: "I think I damaged something more in the car. The steering is heavy in the right-hand corners."

It was quickly becoming apparent that the race for victory was going to come down to a straight fight with the Red Bull drivers, with the added spice of the pair being on contrasting strategies.

With 20 laps gone Vettel was in the wheeltracks of Perez and preparing to pass the McLaren, with Webber around 12 seconds down the road. Alonso, meanwhile, had recovered to 14th.

The mid-point of the race was greeted with a rash of predicted pit stops, with Webber pulling off on lap 29 to take on the soft tyre rather than the medium, which ensured the Australian would be spared the frustration of having to pit in the last couple of laps.

Vettel took his second stop on lap 32, bolting on his second set of mediums that would carry him to the end of the race.

Webber's brief dalliance with the fragile soft tyre was over just one lap later as he took to the pits to take on the more durable medium, dropping him behind his team-mate.

Vettel looked to press home his advantage over his team-mate with some searing laps but was warned over the radio by his team to preserve his tyres.

But any threat to Vettel's race win was eliminated on lap 40 when Webber - yet again hit by bad luck - was forced into retirement with a gearbox problem.

"I'm overwhelmed," Vettel concluded later. "I don't know what to say. It is one of the best days of my life so far. I try to think back to when I was small. Formula One was so far away. There have been so many people I have to thank who helped me along the way.

"I always tried to listen and learn. It has been amazing to race some of the best drivers in the world. I think it's a strong field at the moment. I don't feel old. I'm getting older but I don't feel it yet. Every day I'm a little bit better."

2013 FORMULA 1 AIRTEL INDIAN GRAND PRIX