Vettel started the season with a second place at the , before he finished outside the points in Malaysia following a collision with backmarker Narain Karthikeyan. Vettel and Horner criticised Karthikeyan's driving, with Vettel calling him an "idiot", and a "cucumber". Karthikeyan hit back, calling Vettel a "cry baby". Vettel crossed the line in first place at the to go top of the championship standings. Three races without a podium place followed, before he retired at the after an alternator failure, dropping him to fourth in the standings. In Germany, Vettel finished second behind Alonso but received a 20-second time penalty after the race, as he was off the track when he overtook Button; Vettel dropped back to fifth. He started in 10th place but finished second in Belgium to climb up to second place in the championship. Vettel then retired at the due to a alternator failure, which saw the gap to leader Alonso grow to 39 points with seven races remaining. He won next race in Singapore, as he kept the lead until the 2-hour race limit was reached. At the he took his second career grand slam and coupled with Alonso's retirement, he cut the gap down to just four points. After winning at the , the Indian Grand Prix brought another victory, as Vettel topped all three practice sessions before taking pole position and leading every lap of the race to win.