Fernando Alonso is now the man to beat as he takes control of the world championship fight thanks to a stunning drive in Korean which saw him secure victory.
The Ferrari driver finished ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and team-mate, Felipe Massa.
It was a bad day for Red Bull as both drivers failed to score any points. Mark Webber crashed in the early part of the race, whilst Vettel’s reliability issues, which haunted him in the opening stages of the season, returned to bite him.
Race Report
The Korean Grand Prix began under safety car conditions thanks to overnight rain which continued through to the start of the race, which, due to the conditions, was delayed by ten minutes.
Two laps were completed, with the drivers complaining that the conditions were incredibly poor, resulting in the FIA red flagging the session.
A further delay of 55 minutes was added before the race restarted at 16:05 local time, 1 hour and five minutes later than planned.
However, the cars remained behind the SC for a further 15 laps before it peeled into the pit-lane.
As the race re-started, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher both gained places.
Mark Webber made an error and span on the kerbs before collecting fourth placed man Nico Rosberg, moving Fernando Alonso into second and Lewis Hamilton into third. That error cost Webber heavily in the championship and caused a second safety car.
At the second restart, several drivers attempted to switch to intermediates, one of those being Nick Heidfeld, however the decision dropped him down the order from 16th to 19th – prompting others not to follow.
Lucas di Grassi joined a growing list of drivers making errors, his was costly and saw him retire.
Jenson Button lost a place to Michael Schumacer on the 1.2km straight, moving the Mercedes driver into fifth. On the same lap, Nico Hulkenberg managed to pass Robert Kubica for seventh.
After losing a place to Schumacher, Button became the first of the front-runners to pit for inters, followed by Adrian Sutil who span on his first lap on new rubber.
Next to join the spinners was Sebastian Buemi who out-braked himself and hit the Virgin of Glock, ending both their races and bringing out a third SC.
Lewis Hamilton moved up into second after Alonso suffered a pit-stop problem which saw his stop delayed. That move was reversed when Hamilton ran wide at turn one, allowing the Spaniard back past.
On lap 36, Heikki Kovalainen received a drive-through for speeding in the pit-lane.
Adria Sutil gained a place on Kamui Kobayashi before handing it back at turn four where he ran wide. He rejoined in 13th, behind Nick Heidfeld.
On lap 41, a major crash for Vitaly Petrov as he lost it at the final corner and span into the pit-lane wall, totally destroying his Renault R30.
The race became a disaster for Red Bull on lap 46 as Vettel suffered a mechanical issue, ending his race and handing Alonso the lead.
Adrian Sutil became the next casualty, a move on Kobayashi went very wrong and ended his race.
Finally, after almost three hours, the counter ticked to lap 55 and Alonso took his fifth victory to move into first in the championship ending what was a terrific race.
Korean Race Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | J. Button | McLaren | +1:29.9 |
| 17. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | Mechanical |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +14.9 |
| 5. | R. Kubica | Renault | +47.7 |
| 24. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | Collision |
| 23. | M. Webber | Red Bull | Collision |
| 6. | V. Liuzzi | Force India | +53.5 |
| 1. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 2:48.20 |
| 3. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +30.8 |
| 4. | M Schumacher | Mercedes | +39.6 |
| 10. | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | +1:20.8 |
| 16. | A. Sutil | Force India | Collision |
| 18. | V. Petrov | Renaut | Crashed |
| 20. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | Collision |
| 9. | N. Heidfeld | Sauber | +1:20.1 |
| 8. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +1:17.8 |
| 11. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1:24.1 |
| 19. | T. Glock | Virgin | Collision |
| 22. | J. Trulli | Lotus | Collision |
| 21. | L. di Grassi | Virgin | Crashed |
| 13. | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | +1 lap |
| 14. | B. Senna | Hispania | +2 laps |
| 7. | R. Barrichello | Williams | +1:10.8 |
| 15. | S. Yamamoto | Hispania | +2 laps |
Fastest Lap: F. Alonso – 1:50.257 (lap 42)
