Sebastian Vettel was at the top of his game, completing a Korean hat-trick, with his third consecutive win in Yeongam, and fourth win on the trot since Belgium.
The fourth running of the Korean Grand Prix saw a familiar face on pole in Sebastian Vettel. After a clean start, there was quite some commotion after the first corner. With five abreast at one time, something had to give and it was Massa who spun around and tagged Alonso while at it. Jenson Button also suffered front wing damage to his McLaren. After things had ‘settled down’, it was Grosjean in second, ahead of the two Mercedes-AMG cars of Hamilton and Rosberg with the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg in fifth. Alonso was now sixth with Ricciardo in seventh. With the yellow flag briefly making an appearance; the end of lap one saw Vettel already with a two-second lead.
The following laps saw Webber take Perez for 11th, while Raikkonen passed Ricciardo for seventh place. Button, meanwhile, came in for a wing replacement and medium tyres. Raikkonen was on the move and went past Alonso for sixth. Come lap 10, and Grosjean pitted from second, with Vettel and Raikkonen coming in on the following lap as Webber took the lead briefly before pitting on the next lap. On lap 19, the order behind the Mercedes cars was Hulkenberg, Alonso, Raikkonen and Webber.
Lap 28 saw sparks flying, literally, as Rosberg’s front nose came loose, dragging itself along the track as he pulled a move to pass Hamilton for third. For the rest of the lap, Hamilton was held up behind his teammate and eventually took third back; his lap time over 10 seconds slower than the rest as Rosberg entered the pitlane. Being stationary for 22.6 seconds meant that Rosberg would have to claw his way back.
Just three laps later, Perez lost his front right tyre; the carcass lashing out almost hitting the Red Bull of Mark Webber which was coming up from behind. That brought out the Safety Car. Webebr also suffered a puncture and had to pit yet again. Unfortunately for him, it meant super-soft tyres for the remaining 22 laps!
The race restarted on lap 36 and the order was now Vettel, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Alonso. Around the next corner, Adrian Sutil spun and struck Webber; possibly hitting an oil line. The Red Bull was on fire and it was spreading fast. Elsewhere on track, Raikkonen had gone past Grosjean, as the Safety Car was brought out again. A Jeep Grand Cherokee, the fire-safety vehicle, was also on track – something never seen before at the circuit.
The restart saw Hamilton and Alonso battle it out over the next few laps. Hamilton managed to close in on Hulkenberg and even passed him just before the DRS zone, only to be passed by the young German again, without DRS, but with superior traction. With two laps to go, Ricciardo crashed out , while Alonso was troubling Hamilton yet again, allowing Hulkenberg to edge his Sauber further ahead.
Vettel took a strong win, with the Lotuses of Raikkonen and Grosjean coming in second and third, respectively. Hulkenberg took a well-deserved fourth in what was probably the drive of the day for many. In the driver’s championship, Vettel has a commanding lead with 272 points, ahead of Alonso who has 195. Raikkonen is back in third with 167 points. In the constructor’s race, Red Bull are on 402 points, Ferrari are on 284, just one point ahead of Mercedes-AMG, who are on 283.
