Vettel Perfect In Korea

Sebastian Vettel took his eighth win of the year with a controlled drive to the flag at the Korean Grand Prix, his third consecutive victory at the Yeongam circuit. Mark, unfortunately, was forced out of the race on lap 37 when he was hit by the Force India of Adrian Sutil.

Starting from pole position, Seb got away well to hold his lead through the first corners, leaving second-on-the-grid Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to tussle with Romain Grosjean, the Lotus driver eventually claiming second place.

That left Sebastian room to carve a lead, which by the time of the first round of pit stops had risen to more than three seconds.

From there it was a relatively straightforward run to the checkered flag, though two safety car periods in quick succession in the middle of the race tested the championship leader’s nerve.

Seb controlled things behind the safety car well, however, and on both occasions he was able to pull away with ease from the chasing pack.

When the safety car peeled off track for the second time, Kimi Raikkonen, who had climbed through the field from ninth on the grid, was able to put a good move on teammate Romain Grosjean and stole into second place with 18 laps to go. The top three positions then remained unchanged until the end.

“It was a long race today, but it’s really great to win,” said Seb afterwards. “The start was crucial, it’s always tricky here as you’re nervous about the long straight when you start from pole. Fortunately, we had good traction off the line and I had a strong exit out of the first corner. We kept the lead and tried to control the race from there.

“It was a very strong performance from the whole team and I’m happy. We’re just focusing on continuing to take one step at a time and trying to get the best out of the car at every single race.”

Both safety car periods involved Mark, who had an incident-packed race.