Sebastian Vettel takes hat-trick victory at Korean Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has stormed to his third successive victory of the season at the Korean Grand Prix, after enduring a nervy final few laps with tyre wear. The German was followed home by team-mate Mark Webber, with the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso a distant 3rd. Vettel now takes the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, with a six point advantage.

At the start Sebastian Vettel immediately pounced on team-mate Mark Webber to take the lead into turn one, whereas further back drivers jostled for position within the midfield. Jenson Button was an early casualty into turn three, after the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi simply missed his braking point and clipped the Briton’s front right wheel. This ended both Button and Kobayashi’s race, with the latter retiring several laps later after incurring a drive-thru penalty.

Mark Webber tried desperately to retake the lead into turn three after the exceedingly long straight, however Sebastian Vettel was able to fend off the charging Australian to a retain the lead. Nico Rosberg also became an early retirement, as the German driver pulled off the circuit halfway down the long straight. As Kamui Kobayashi served his penalty for colliding with Jenson Button, the Toro Rosso duo of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo were scything through the midfield, enjoying tremendous amounts of pace.

With Pirelli hinting at a possible one-stop strategy, it seemed many drivers were planning two-stop strategies as Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean became the first drivers to make a scheduled pitstop. Mark Webber and Felipe Massa pitted a lap later, before race leader Sebastian Vettel pitted on lap 16 along with fellow Championship rival Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard rejoined the circuit almost colliding with the Sauber of Sergio Perez, as the two raced side-by-side down the long straight.

As the opening round of pitstops were carried out, Kamui Kobayashi retired after enduring an absolutely disastrous opening few laps. The HRT of Pedro de la Rosa also retired from the race, with the Spanish outfit deciding to retire his car due to safety issues after a throttle pedal issue on his machine.

Lewis Hamilton’s race entered a downward spiral as the halfway mark loomed, with the 2008 World Champion already struggling greatly with tyre wear. Former sparring partner Felipe Massa was able to easily overtake the Briton, before Hamilton became locked in a grueling battle for 5th with the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn momentarily overtook Lewis Hamilton into turn three, however the Briton’s cunning use of the KERS system allowed him to retake the ‘Iceman’ into turn four.

By lap 27, Lewis Hamilton was forced to pit for a second time. A slight error on his right-front tyre saw the Briton loose several tenths during this stop, as he rejoined in 8th position. Several laps later the rest of the front runners made their second and final stop, with Mark Webber pitting on lap 33, Fernando Alonso on lap 35, and race leader Sebastian Vettel on lap 36. Although Lewis Hamilton had pitted for new tyres, he was still struggling for pace in his McLaren and came under serious pressure from the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

As the three drivers jostled for 6th position, Grosjean ran extensively wide on the exit of turn three, thus allowing Hulkenberg to overtake both the Frenchman and Hamilton into turn four. Although Lewis Hamilton was able to keep Grosjean behind him throughout the lengthy DRS zone for several laps, the Briton was eventually forced to pit for a third time which saw his drop further down the order to 10th.

Hamilton then became stuck in a battle for 9th with the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne, who mastered the technique of using KERS as the defense against the McLaren driver’s DRS-enhanced onslaught. Whilst Hamilton endured yet another frustratingly uncompetitive race, Sebastian Vettel was cruising out front in the lead. However, as the final laps fell away, Red Bull began to worry about tyre degradation, constantly hounding the German to slow down and save the tyres.

As the race entered the final laps, the astroturf on the exit of turn thirteen began to once again rip up, causing lots of confusion throughout the pack. Lewis Hamilton’s race took another disastrous turn as the Briton ran right over the degrading astroturf, with a large clump of the turf getting tangled up on the sidepod of his car. This lost Hamilton copious amounts in the closing stages, as the Toro Rossos scampered into the distance as Sergio Perez homed in on the ailing McLaren driver.

Regardless of the threat of tyre degradation on the Red Bulls out in front, Sebastian Vettel was able to coast home to his third successive victory in a row, and his second in succession at the Korea International Circuit. Mark Webber was able to hang on for 2nd, with Fernando Alonso 3rd for Ferrari. This results sees Sebastian Vettel take the lead in the Drivers’ Championship by six points, as all attention within the paddock switches to the second running of the Indian Grand Prix in two weeks time.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1