Vandoorne qualified 17th at the previous race in Bahrain, 16th in China and 18th in the Australian season-opener, with 20 cars on the grid.
Karim Benzema gave the European champions the lead in the 20th minute with an irresistible piece of control and finish after a pinpoint pass from Luka Modric.
Sahara Force India recorded its first double points finish of the season with Paul di Resta securing seventh place and Nico Hulkenberg ninth in the dramatic and rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix, in Sepang.
The Mercedes driver's 55th career win was hard-fought and tense, however, with Ferrari's Vettel seizing the lead at the start and in the hunt all the way to the finish as the tyre strategies played out.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's Indian Formula One Grand Prix (listed in championship order).
Serge Gnabry scored twice as Bayern Munich beat Chelsea 3-0, while Antoine Griezmann's second-half equaliser handed Barcelona a vital away goal and earned them a 1-1 draw at Napoli in their Champions League last 16, first leg on Tuesday.
Four times MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez drove a Formula One car for the first time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on Tuesday but said his focus remains firmly on two wheels for the next few years at least.
Renault announced the Formula One comeback of Danish driver Kevin Magnussen at the launch on Wednesday of a new-look team that will put the French carmaker back on the starting grid as a constructor.
Images from the match played between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday
Sebastian Vettel's hopes of fighting champions Mercedes for victory in Sunday's Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix went up in smoke before the start when his Ferrari's engine blew on the formation lap.
Luis Suarez and Rafinha scored in the first half before three late goals in seven minutes including two from Neymar gave Barcelona a 5-0 win at 10-man Sporting Gijon on Saturday, their first game this season without Lionel Messi. ? After a slow and dull start by Barca, Arda Turan set up Suarez and the Uruguayan rounded Sporting goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar to tap in the opener in the 29th minute.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel completed a practice hat-trick on Saturday with the fastest time in a smog-shortened final session before qualifying for a race expected to bring him a fourth successive Formula One title.
Lewis Hamilton has had more success in Shanghai than any other Formula One driver, which makes Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix the ideal location for the triple world champion to end Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's winning streak. While Rosberg has started the season with a perfect 50 points from two races, and a run of five successive victories dating back to last November, Hamilton is ready to turn the tables. The Briton has won four times in Shanghai and is on for three in a row after last season becoming the only driver to win the race in successive years. "It's not been a smooth start to the season for me, so to be in the championship position I'm in right now is actually pretty positive," said Hamilton, who lies second in the standings after a second and a third place. "Now we go to China for the next battle. It's a track that's been good to me over the years... so hopefully this race can be the turning point." Hamilton has not won since he took his third world championship in Austin, Texas, last October but the 31-year-old has started both races this season on pole position.
Formula One World champion Sebastian Vettel drove his new Red Bull for the first time on Thursday with the team saying they were on course to tick all the right boxes in pre-season testing at Jerez.
Formula One champions Red Bull have changed their pitstop procedures for Sunday's showcase Monaco Grand Prix after accusing Ferrari of shadowing them at the last race in Spain.
None of the drivers of Sahara Force India will start in top-10 at Sunday's British Grand Prix as Paul di Resta missed out on Q3 by a whisker and Nico Hulkenberg despite securing ninth position will start at 14th after a gear box penalty.
None of the drivers of Sahara Force India will start in top-10 at Sunday's British Grand Prix as Paul di Resta missed out on Q3 by a whisker and Nico Hulkenberg despite securing ninth position will start at 14th after a gear box penalty.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the floodlit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday after Red Bull's double Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel suffered his first race retirement in more than a year.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the floodlit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday after Red Bull's double Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel suffered his first race retirement in more than a year.
Jenson Button has indicated he might not stay at McLaren even if the Formula One team offered him a contract extension for next season.
A bevy of dignitaries, filmstars and cricketers were among the 95,000-odd crowd that thronged the Buddh International Circuit to witness the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, in Greater Noida, on Sunday.
Renault parted company with flamboyant team boss Flavio Briatore on Wednesday and said they would not contest charges they had fixed last year's Singapore Grand Prix by ordering driver Nelson Piquet to crash, to help Spanish team-mate Fernando Alonso win.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton produced a monumental drive to take his second win of the season in the German Formula One Grand Prix after an enthralling battle with Ferrari's second-placed Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.
Renault's Russian driver was reprimanded by stewards and handed a five-place penalty on the starting grid for the Indian Formula One Grand Prix after causing a collision in Korea on Sunday.
Formula One is facing fresh calls to consider closed cockpits after French driver Jules Bianchi's accident in Japan last weekend, though opinions are mixed about the potential benefits. Cockpit covers were tested by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) after Brazilian Felipe Massa suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by a bouncing spring in Hungary in 2009. In 2012, tests were carried out using a forward roll hoop -- a metal structure placed right in front of the driver -- after other experiments with a jet fighter-style canopy and windshields. None were developed beyond the testing stage, but drivers and teams suggested at the Russian Grand Prix they could be revisited after Bianchi suffered a severe brain trauma when his Marussia crashed into a recovery tractor at Suzuka.
Lewis Hamilton became Britain's first four-times Formula One world champion on Sunday after fighting back from last place following an opening-lap collision with arch-rival Sebastian Vettel at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Ferrari will present their new Formula One car online on January 30, a day after McLaren take the wraps off their Honda-powered challenger.
Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel chalked up Red Bull's 13th pole position in 13 races this season with a blistering lap in Italian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
McLaren Formula One driver Jenson Button entered the New Year as a married man after tying the knot with long-term girlfriend Jessica Michibata in Hawaii.
Sahara Force India ended the 2011 Formula One season on a high as Adrian Sutil finished sixth and Paul di Resta eighth to earn 12 points for the team in the Brazilian Grand Prix, which Red Bull's Mark Webber won to record his first victory of the calendar.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's inaugural Indian Formula One Grand Prix (listed in championship order).
McLaren's Jenson Button celebrated his 200th Formula One start by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday after a thrilling race decided by tyre choices in the slippery, wet conditions.
McLaren's Jenson Button celebrated his 200th Formula One start by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday after a thrilling race decided by tyre choices in the slippery, wet conditions.
McLaren's Jenson Button celebrated his 200th Formula One start by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday after a thrilling race decided by tyre choices in the slippery, wet conditions.
As the Formula One season moves into its second half Sebastian Vettel's armour suddenly appears to have some chinks after Lewis Hamilton's superb victory left the German in the shade for the second consecutive race in his previously imperious Red Bull.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic says he will turn to his Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic for ideas on how to stop Argentina's Lionel Messi in Thursday's Group D match between the two teams.
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