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The was not the thrilling spectacle Formula 1 wanted it to be but if that amazing country is to succumb to the sport's advances after this inaugural race at least it won't be under false pretences.

The packed grandstands - unusual for a first race in a new territory for F1 - witnessed a grand prix that encapsulated in many ways what F1 2011 has all been about.

Red Bull's strolled to a comfortable victory, taking only as much out of his car and tyres as he needed to. and - the other two stand-out drivers of the year - followed him home. And found himself embroiled in yet another contretemps with his nemesis, .

Hamilton, as has been well documented, has not had a great year. There have been some fantastic highs but by and large he has performed well below his superlative best.

On the way, he has been involved in some high-profile incidents, many of which have been his fault. But his collision with Massa in India on Sunday was not one of them.

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Formula 1 branches out into the unknown with the inaugural this weekend, and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport's classic F1 series is also trying something new.

Instead of one driver picking his favourite all-time races, we have asked two. Those men are India's only F1 drivers, and .

As F1 tries to make the biggest splash it can in this new market, both men will be driving on home soil this weekend - Karthikeyan for the whole weekend with and Chandhok in his usual role in Friday practice with .

Both men are fans as well as racing drivers - and between them they have picked a cracking collection of all-time classic races.

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It is an open secret in Formula 1 that Sebastian Vettel, who became this year, is motivated at least partly by statistics.

The driver himself, though, has been a little shy about admitting it so far - but on Wednesday he went as far as he ever has towards acknowledging that, yes, he would not mind having a crack at the all-time records.

Until Vettel's remarkable run of success, particularly this year, of seven titles, 91 wins and 68 pole positions looked unbeatable.

But Vettel, at the age of 24, already has 20 victories and 27 poles, as well as those two titles. Suddenly, Schumacher's records don't look quite so impregnable after all.

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talked about using the Korean Grand Prix to "redeem" himself after a turbulent series of races. It was a strong choice of word, reflective it seems of a man somewhat battle-weary after a long, trying season. But if redemption was what he was after, he went a long way towards achieving it in Yeongam.

Unable to keep pace with , Hamilton drove a virtually flawless defensive race, holding off the faster car of the German's team-mate for the duration.

His one mistake came on the first lap, when after converting pole position into a lead at the first corner, Hamilton admitted that he "didn't position my car very well" on the run down to Turn Four. "I didn't realise there was a car-length gap on the side," he said.

It was all the invitation Vettel needed to take the lead and drive off into a race of his own, taking his 10th win of the season to keep alive the possibility of equalling 's all-time record of 13 wins in a season. 's one-three sealed a constructors' title that was as inevitable as the drivers' crown Vettel won in Japan a week ago.

After a taking a superb pole position on Saturday, Hamilton had hopes of winning in Korea. But the context of Sunday afternoon suggests that he achieved that position at the front of the grid more through sheer driving bravado than any car advantage.

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is the latest driver to choose his five all-time favourite grands prix for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport's classic Formula 1 series.

The HRT driver, who elected to stay in F1 for a seventh season this year with a back-of-the-grid team rather than look for a more competitive drive elsewhere, certainly knows his F1 history. The Italian's selection comprises five all-time classic events.

Liuzzi decided to join HRT this year to ensure he kept his name alive in F1

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climbed slowly up on to the nose of his and, for the first time this year, raised two of those trademark index fingers in the air. That's two to indicate he is now a double world champion - the youngest in Formula 1 history.

It was appropriate, then, that the first man to congratulate him in person after the race was the driver who previously held that honour - , who finished second to McLaren's and ahead of Vettel in a .

Third place was more than enough for Vettel to seal the crown with four races still to go. And if he seemed less emotional than he did after winning his first title in that is almost certainly because this one has seemed inevitable since as long ago as the in Melbourne's Albert Park seven months ago.

That was when the sheer, breathtaking pace of his Red Bull car - and the German's mastery of it - first became apparent.

What followed has been domination of the like not seen since and in 2002 and '04 - the last time an extravagantly talented German was in a team whose resources, applied with ruthless efficiency, outstripped their rivals', and whose focus was primarily on their lead driver.

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Red Bull's is the latest driver to pick his five favourite all-time races for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport's classic Formula 1 series.

Unlike some of his rivals, our columnist was a fan of F1 before he started racing in it and has a good knowledge of the sport's history.

So it is no surprise that his selection is an aficionado's list of five all-time great races.

In his 10 years in the sport, Webber has been involved in plenty of classic races himself - but he has not picked any of his six wins, nor great moments such as, a move that will go down in the annals as one of the best and bravest there has been.

Instead, the sole race among his five choices in which he took part is one in which he played only a cameo role - albeit an important one. But we will come on to that later.

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