Vettel takes commanding win in Korea

The German, who took the drivers' title last weekend in Japan, started second on the grid alongside Lewis Hamilton, but outbraked his McLaren into Turn 4 on the opening lap to take a decisive advantage.

A four-second lead was wiped out when Vitaly Petrov took Michael Schumacher out of the race at Turn 3, the resultant debris bringing out the safety car. But when racing resumed, Vettel was again able to pull away. His eventual winning margin over Hamilton was 11s.

Hamilton's runner-up spot was anything but easy. Mark Webber, in the second Red Bull, was never more than 1.5s behind him, and closed onto the McLaren driver's tail during the second half of the race.

A quick decision to bring Hamilton in for his final pitstop just as his rear tyres were beginning to go off managed to keep him ahead of Webber - who stopped on the same lap.

The Australian seemed to have more pace than the Briton, the pair running side-by-side for a number of corners on lap 34, and Webber eventually making it into second at the first corner with five laps to go.

Blessed with the superior traction of the McLaren, and employing a tactic of using all his KERS and DRS at the same time, Hamilton retook the position seconds later on the long run down to Turn 3, and held it to the finish, even setting the fastest lap on the penultimate tour.

Jenson Button fell from third to sixth on the opening lap following strong starts from Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Such was Massa's lack of pace on worn tyres, that Nico Rosberg made it a four-way battle for the position as they approached the opening round of pitstops.

While Alonso dropped out of the battle after staying out too long on worn rubber, the action concerned Button and Rosberg, who pitted together on lap 14.

Rosberg got out ahead of Button, the Briton giving way at the pit exit after running side-by-side with the Mercedes driver down the pitlane, but then surrendered the position by outbraking himself and running wide as the rejoined the track.

Rosberg regained the place with the aid of DRS a few seconds later, but could only keep the McLaren behind him for another lap.

Massa, by this stage, had fallen behind the pair, and was also overtaken by Alonso at the second round of stops, after a couple of sensational laps from the Spaniard on old rubber.

Button and Alonso finished fourth and fifth, just behind the Hamilton/Webber battle, while Massa was next up.

Jaime Alguersuari put in another strong performance to finish seventh, the Spaniard passing Rosberg for the position on the final lap after a couple of unsuccessful earlier attempts, while his Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastien Buemi was one place further back.

Paul di Resta completed the points scorers, ahead of his Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil, while Pastor Maldonado - who was in the mix with the Force Indias behind the safety car, was given a drive-through penalty for hitting a bollard at pit entry, and later retired.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Korean Grand Prix
Korea Auto Valley, Yongam, Korea;
55 laps; 305.909km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:01.994
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    12.019
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    12.477
 4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    14.694
 5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    15.689
 6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    25.133
 7.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    49.538
 8.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    54.053
 9.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:02.762
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1:08.602
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +  1:11.229
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +  1:33.068
13.  Senna         Renault                    +     1 lap
14.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
15.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
16.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
17.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
18.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap
19.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +     1 lap
20.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap
21.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:39.605

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            31
Petrov        Renault                      17
Schumacher    Mercedes                     16


World Championship standings, round 16:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       349        1.  Red Bull-Renault          558
 2.  Button       222        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          418
 3.  Alonso       212        3.  Ferrari                   310
 4.  Webber       209        4.  Mercedes                  127
 5.  Hamilton     196        5.  Renault                    72
 6.  Massa         98        6.  Force India-Mercedes       49
 7.  Rosberg       67        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             40
 8.  Schumacher    60        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         37
 9.  Petrov        36        9.  Williams-Cosworth           5
10.  Heidfeld      34       
11.  Sutil         28       
12.  Kobayashi     27       
13.  Alguersuari   22       
14.  Di Resta      21       
15.  Buemi         15       
16.  Perez         13       
17.  Barrichello    4       
18.  Senna          2       
19.  Maldonado      1       
       
All timing unofficial