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Vettel on brink of title with Korean win
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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel completed a hat-trick of Korean Grand Prix victories yesterday to put himself only one week away from potentially clinching the Formula One title.
The 26-year-old’s third successive Korean win, and eighth triumph in 14 races, left him 77 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso with five races — and a maximum 125 points — remaining.
If Vettel wins in Japan, and Alonso finishes worse than eighth, the German will join his compatriot Michael Schumacher and Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio as the only men to win four successive titles.
Alonso could manage only sixth place on an overcast afternoon in Yeongam that threatened rain without delivering. The Spaniard now has 195 points to Vettel’s 272.
In a race that exploded into action, with two safety car periods, including one that started with the bizarre appearance of a fire marshals’ 4X4 on track at the front of the field, Vettel celebrated his fourth victory in a row.
Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen finished second, ahead of Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean, in a race that began as another display of Vettel’s domination before jolting the audience awake with a bang.
McLaren’s Mexican Sergio Perez brought out the first safety car with the explosive delamination of his front right tire that left a strip of tread lying in the middle of the track. When that safety car came in, after the debris had been cleared, Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber was hit by Adrian Sutil’s Force India at the re-start.
The Australian pulled over with his car on fire, for the second race in a row.
With marshals putting out the blaze with extinguishers, the 4x4 appeared on the track ahead of the field between turns one and two and with its hazard lights on while the official Mercedes SLS AMG safety car brought up the rear.
“It’s not great getting stuck behind the safety car but I’m really pleased with the result and great by the team,” said Vettel, whose podium appearance at the sparsely-attended Yeongam circuit met none of the booing that had marked the previous three races.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg finished fourth to equal his career best. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was fifth, just holding off Alonso on the last lap.
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