Formula One history was made today as the sport roared into life for the first time on the subcontinent.

And it was Sebastian Vettel, on pole for the 13th time this season, who perfectly led away the field for the 60-lap Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit.

Behind him, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso ran wide into turn one, allowing Jenson Button to move up to third.

The McLaren star then attacked Mark Webber in his Red Bull into turn four at the end of the long rollercoaster straight to claim second.

Further down the grid there was a first-corner incident that led to Williams' Rubens Barrichello, Sergio Perez in his Sauber and Timo Glock for Virgin all heading back to the pits at the end of the first lap.

Two corners later and the second Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi was forced to retire, whilst Lotus' Jarno Trulli was sent into a spin after being clipped by the Hispania of Daniel Ricciardo.

At the end of the second lap Glock joined Kobayashi in retirement with the damage sustained at the opening turn proving terminal.

Fifteen minutes before the start there was a well-observed minute's silence on the grid in memory of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, killed in an IndyCar and MotoGP race respectively in the last two weeks.

After five laps, and with Button and Webber trading places, Vettel held a 4.2secs cushion to the Briton who was followed by the Australian, then Alonso, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton for McLaren.

At the head of the field it was proving processional for the top eight drivers, with the majority of the moves coming in the midfield.

Force India's Paul di Resta, especially, after getting rid of the slower, harder tyre phase after just two laps, succeeded in passing a number of slower cars en route to climbing to 16th after 12 laps.

The battle for the minor places was at least engaging with Jaime Alguersuari in his Toro Rosso first passing Renault's Bruno Senna and then Force India's Adrian Sutil to claim ninth.

Behind him, team-mate Sebastien Buemi, who celebrates his 23rd birthday tomorrow, followed the Swiss with manoeuvres on Senna and Sutil to claim 10th.

Up front, after Vettel opened up a gap of 4.8secs, Button put in two quick laps to narrow it to four seconds exactly.

However, by lap 17, at the start of which Webber, Alonso and Hamilton all pitted for fresh rubber, Vettel had managed to extend it again to five seconds.

Massa pitted at the end of lap 17, and just failed to get ahead of team-mate Alonso, the Spaniard just managing to avoid a collision with the Brazilian.

Button then took on new tyres on the subsequent lap, followed by leader Vettel soon after, with the shake-up resulting in a 3.1s lead for the double world champion after 20 laps.

However, in warming up his tyres Vettel then set the quickest lap on 21 to open up a 3.5s cushion, with Webber a further 5.4s adrift, followed by Alonso, Massa and Hamilton, all within another seven seconds.

Di Resta, failing to go as long as perhaps expected on his first set of soft tyres, made a second stop after 20 laps, dropping to 19th, and seemingly unlikely to get into the points.

Then on lap 24, with Massa and Hamilton battling for fifth place, the inevitable happened as they collided for the fifth time this season.

On this occasion, on the run down to turn five, it appeared as if Massa was at fault, turning in on the Briton who had the inside line after passing to the Ferrari's driver left.

Massa remarkably escaped unscathed, whilst Hamilton sustained damage to his front wing and was forced to pit for a second time.

Over the radio Hamilton said: "He turned in on me. He didn't give me any space."

The incident unsurprisingly prompted the four-man stewards' panel to investigate.

Ultimately they decided Massa was deserving of a drive-through penalty on this occasion, which he served at the end of lap 31.

At least there was a comical moment as cameras later picked up footage from inside the McLaren garage where Rowan Atkinson is a guest, the funnyman pulling his usual rubber-faced expressions at the moment the duo collided.

Soon after Buemi retired from a potential point-scoring position, at least elevating Hamilton back into the points.

After 31 laps, Vettel and Button were still only separated by just over four seconds, with Webber and Alonso third and fourth.