Vettel takes points lead with Korean GP win

Sunday 14th October, 2012 5:33pm
Author: SpeedCafe ©

Sebastian Vettel heads the championship after his fourth win of the year

Sebastian Vettel has taken the lead in the World Drivers’ Championship from Fernando Alonso after scoring a third consecutive Grand Prix victory in Korea.

The two-time and reigning world champion out-dragged pole-man Mark Webber to the first corner and was not headed for the duration.

Webber went on to secure second, taking the chequered flag 8.2s behind his team-mate.

The Australian was given a glimmer of hope when a small off from Vettel saw the margin sit at just five seconds at the start of the final stint.

The run to the flag would turn into a tyre conservation run for the two Red Bulls however, with Vettel slowly edging away as the team grew increasingly concerned about front-right wear.

Alonso minimised the points damage by taking third from his team-mate Felipe Massa, while Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top five.

Nico Hulkenberg took sixth after pulling off a double passing move on Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean following the second round of stops.

Grosjean went on to finish seventh, with Hamilton following home Toro Rosso duo Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo after high tyre wear – believed to have been caused by wing damage inflicted in an early touch with Sergio Perez – necessitated a third stop.

The race had begun with contact between Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi in opposing McLaren and Sauber entries at Turn 3, taking the 2009 World Champion out on the spot.

Nico Rosberg was also a victim of the incident, which saw the Japanese driver out-brake himself into the Turn 3 hairpin.

Pedro de la Rosa was the race’s only other retirement, pulling his HRT into the garage on Lap 40 with a sticking throttle.

Vettel now heads into the final four races with a six point advantage over Alonso.

See below for the full race result

Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	55	Winner	2
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	55	+8.2 secs	1
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	55	+13.9 secs	4
4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	55	+20.1 secs	6
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	55	+36.7 secs	5
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	55	+45.3 secs	8
7	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	55	+54.8 secs	7
8	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	55	+69.5 secs	16
9	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	55	+71.7 secs	21
10	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	55	+79.6 secs	3
11	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	55	+80.0 secs	12
12	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	55	+84.4 secs	14
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	55	+89.2 secs	10
14	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	55	+94.9 secs	15
15	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	55	+96.9 secs	17
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	54	+1 Lap	18
17	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	54	+1 Lap	19
18	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	54	+1 Lap	20
19	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	53	+2 Laps	24
20	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	53	+2 Laps	23
Ret	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	16	+39 Laps	22
Ret	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	16	+39 Laps	13
Ret	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1	Accident	9
Ret	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1	Accident	11

See below for the updated championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	215
2	Fernando Alonso	209
3	Kimi Räikkönen	167
4	Lewis Hamilton	153
5	Mark Webber	152
6	Jenson Button	131
7	Nico Rosberg	93
8	Romain Grosjean	88
9	Felipe Massa	81
10	Sergio Perez	66
11	Kamui Kobayashi	50
12	Nico Hulkenberg	45
13	Paul di Resta	44
14	Michael Schumacher	43
15	Pastor Maldonado	33
16	Bruno Senna	25
17	Jean-Eric Vergne	12
18	Daniel Ricciardo	9
19	Timo Glock	0
20	Heikki Kovalainen	0
21	Vitaly Petrov	0
22	Jerome D’Ambrosio	0
23	Charles Pic	0
24	Narain Karthikeyan	0
25	Pedro de la Rosa	0