Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel took a
dominant victory in the Korean Grand
Prix to take the world championship
lead from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Vettel's victory was his third in a row
and it makes him the first driver to win
four races this season. Team-mate
Mark Webber was second ahead of
Alonso.
Vettel has a six-point lead over the
Spaniard with four races to go.
Lewis Hamilton's title hopes are
effectively over after his McLaren
struggled to 10th.
Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen took fifth,
stretching his lead over Hamilton in
third place in the championship, but
Vettel has a 48-point lead over
Raikkonen and a further 14 over
Hamilton with only 100 points still
available in the remaining races in
India, Abu Dhabi, the USA and Brazil.
Vettel's second crushing victory within a
week - along with Webber's comfortable
second place - confirms the impression
that Red Bull have made a significant
step forward with their car and that the
German is on course for a third
consecutive title.
"Fantastic. I'm very happy," said Vettel.
"I tried hard to push, Mark was always
on my toes. We had two brilliant pit
stops.
"The only mistake I had was I locked up
the front right on the way in.
Fortunately I had a good lead and I
could control the gaps. We were a little
bit worried about the tyres because
there has been a lot of locking.
"The guys have been flat out, not much
break between Japan and here we have
done another step on the car, and
hopefully we can carry that through to
the next races."
Ferrari were comfortably clear of the
rest, with Massa taking fourth place
close behind Alonso in the Brazilian's
most competitive performance of the
season. He is expected to be confirmed
at the team for 2013 in the forthcoming
days.
"We have to be happy with the
performance today," said Alonso. "We
were third and fourth just behind Red
Bull who at the moment are difficult to
beat.
"We overtook McLaren in the
constructors' championship, which we
didn't expect. So we are moving in the
right direction. We just need a little step
to compete with Red Bull and it's going
to be a beautiful last four races."
But they could do nothing about the
Red Bulls ahead as Vettel, from second
position on the grid behind Webber,
moved into the lead on the run down
to the first corner and never looked
back, only briefly losing the lead during
the first pit stops.
Red Bull became increasingly anxious
about the wear of Vettel's right-front
tyre in the closing laps and warned him
to back off in certain corners.
But he managed it well - as did Webber
in a similar situation behind him - and
Alonso had to settle for third.
After their second and final stops,
Massa closed up on Alonso, but was
told by his race engineer Rob Smedley
that he was "a little bit too close to
Fernando" and to back off a little.
It became clear later on that Alonso had
been conserving his tyres for a late
assault - in vain - on the Red Bulls.
Raikkonen followed the Ferraris home
in fifth place, ahead of the impressive
Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and the
second Lotus of Romain Grosjean.
It was a sobering afternoon for
Hamilton, who ran fourth behind
Alonso in the early laps after the Ferrari
passed him on the main straight on the
first lap.
But he began to struggle for grip with
high tyre usage caused by a broken rear
anti-roll bar - at about lap 18, McLaren
said - and was forced to make a third
pit stop. He was the only driver in the
field who had to do so.
That dropped him to 10th, behind the
Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and
Jean-Eric Vergne.
Ricciardo was passed by Vergne in the
closing laps, with Hamilton right behind
them.
But Hamilton's attempts to pass were
hindered by his running wide at Turn
13 and picking up some of the artificial
grass, which trailed from his car in the
last three laps.
That badly affected his car's rear
downforce and he dropped back from
the Toro Rossos, only just holding off
the Sauber of Sergio Perez for 10th on
the final lap.
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