[6] The race saw the return of two Drag Reduction System (DRS) zones and two detection points,[7] as was the case at the Italian Grand Prix.

[citation needed] Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan returned to HRT for the race,[8] having been replaced by Daniel Ricciardo since Silverstone.

[12] Upon arrival at the circuit, teams reported several issues with construction, including power outages, some infrastructure being "incomplete", and a colony of bats living in the pit building.

[18] Vitaly Petrov was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Michael Schumacher at the Korean Grand Prix.

Hamilton however, had set his time when yellow flags had been shown in the final sector for Pastor Maldonado's stricken Williams, and was given a three-place grid penalty.

Several drivers ran off the road, with Turns 6 and 7 proving to be particularly troublesome as Vitaly Petrov, Kamui Kobayashi, Sébastien Buemi and Adrian Sutil all went off there.

Jaime Alguersuari was suspected of ignoring yellow flags at Turn 9 and was referred to the race stewards, but escaped penalty when the team provided telemetry that demonstrated that he had slowed down.

The new front wing of the Ferrari cars attracted significant attention, with commentators observing it to "flutter", rapidly vibrating and sparking off the circuit surface, particularly under braking into Turn 4.

This phenomenon attracted the attention of the FIA's technical delegates, and the problem was noticed to have stopped when the team replaced the front wing on Felipe Massa's car.

Jenson Button experienced early troubles when he reported that his car lacked rear grip, and he was sixteenth in the final few minutes of the session, just ahead of Michael Schumacher in seventeenth and Kamui Kobayashi in eighteenth.

Kobayashi, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Daniel Ricciardo, Karthikeyan, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Timo Glock were all eliminated, although those positions were subject to change once grid penalties were applied.

Michael Schumacher qualified twelfth after complaining of a vibration in the rear of the car, ahead of Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Bruno Senna, Rubens Barrichello, Petrov and Sergio Pérez in seventeenth.

Pérez was later moved back to twentieth place, having earned a three-place penalty for ignoring yellow flags in practice, and started the race behind teammate Kobayashi and the Team Lotus cars of Kovalainen and Trulli.

Massa hit the high kerb on the inside of Turn 8, breaking his suspension and sending him into the wall, damaging his front wing.

Massa's accident also disrupted the final laps of Webber, Hamilton and Alonso, giving Sebastian Vettel his thirteenth pole position of the season.

Webber qualified third ahead of Alonso and Button, with Massa sixth and Nico Rosberg seventh, the final driver to have set a lap time.

Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari were ninth and tenth, making the race the first time all four cars owned by Red Bull had started in the top ten.

[citation needed] After grid penalties had been applied, just seven drivers – Vettel, Massa, Rosberg, Sutil, Buemi, Alguersuari and Glock – started the race in the positioned they had actually qualified in.

Shortly afterwards, the race's major talking point occurred [citation needed] when Lewis Hamilton attempted to pass Felipe Massa in turn five.

This left, on lap 32, Hamilton in seventh, Alguersuari back to eighth and Sutil and Sergio Pérez, who had been having a quiet race for Sauber, rounding out the points.

The second round of pitstops saw far less action than the first, with the exception of Alonso's better stop allowing him to emerge ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing in the battle for third place.

Alguersuari's eighth place allowed Toro Rosso to draw level with Sauber in the chase for seventh in the constructors' championship, with Sutil leading Pérez home in the last two points scoring positions.

Six weeks before the Grand Prix, reports emerged that the race was under threat from the Indian government seeking to tax a share of the teams' earnings.

The notices were issued by the apex court on the basis of a public interest litigation, which challenged the exemption of entertainment and luxury tax for organising the Formula One event.

[27] Further complications arose when several figures within the Formula One paddock – reported to be Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and "half" of the HRT team – had their visa applications rejected.

[28] A senior FIA figure was quoted as saying that if the extended visa processing period continued, then up to ninety percent of people involved in the sport would be unable to attend the race.