Korean Grand Prix 2013 - Report

After the display of utter brilliance that was Singapore, Sebastian Vettel went about imposing himself on the rest of the field in a slightly more subtle manner at Korea.

Instead of galloping away at a vast rate of knots, Vettel seemed to be playing the percentages far more this weekend. Perhaps this was because of the fragility of the Pirelli tyres, which returned to being a major talking point of the weekend after several races out of the spotlight.

There was more criticism leveled at the Italian rubber after Sergio Perez suffered a tyre blowout not dissimilar to those seen at Silverstone, most notably from Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. Regrettably, Pirelli's response to these comments was a rather petulant one, with Paul Hembery suggesting that Alonso take advice from a certain soon-to-be four-time world champion on tyre preservation.

Looking after the tyres appeared to be the main issue for Lewis Hamilton, the only man who looked to have the pace to really take the fight to Vettel. The Mercedes driver missed out on pole position by just two tenths of a second and dropped behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus at the start of the race while Vettel made a clean getaway to lead the pack.

Whilst the Franco-Swiss wasn't left behind by Vettel in the same way Nico Rosberg was two weeks ago, it soon became clear that Grosjean could not provide any real challenge to the runaway championship leader, who after quickly opening a lead of around three seconds appeared to back off and hold his ground.

Behind, on the first lap, Massa's spin on the apex of turn three shuffled the order as some drivers had to take significant evasive action to avoid the stricken Ferrari. Rosberg maintained fourth place behind his teammate, but Alonso, who had started fifth, fell behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg thanks to Massa's error. 

With virtually the entire field starting on option tyres, the first phase of pit-stops commenced in earnest on lap nine, when Hamilton and Alonso both pitted for primes. Grosjean, Rosberg and Hulkenberg all followed suit the next lap, with Vettel making his first stop at the end of lap 11.

The Red Bull driver managed to extend his lead over Grosjean to around six seconds during the second stint, during which Hamilton struggled badly with tyre wear and consequently began to fall away from Grosjean and towards teammate Rosberg. 

In the meantime, Hulkenberg now had a queue forming in his wake consisting of Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Webber, who had made progress from his lowly starting position of 13th (courtesy of a ten-place grid penalty he picked up for his actions during the slowing-down lap at Singapore) since the start.

Haemorrhaging time relative to the leaders, Raikkonen opted to make his second stop relatively early, on lap 25, in a bid to jump his rivals. This decision proved to be a tactical masterstroke, as, just six laps later, the Safety Car was deployed in response to Perez's exploding front-right tyre, which was no doubt aided by a particularly nasty lock-up a couple of corners beforehand. 

The perennially unlucky Webber, running just behind the McLaren driver at the time having made his second stop, ran over the ensuing debris and was forced to pit for a third time, though this soon proved inconsequential.

Vettel and Grosjean both headed to the pits at the end of lap 31 for fresh primes, resuming first and second, but Raikkonen, having been released into clean air after his stop, leapt up from seventh to third. This demoted Hamilton to fourth, ahead of Hulkenberg, Alonso, Jenson Button and Rosberg, who lost ground after a lengthy pit-stop to replace a broken nose section.

Rosberg was fortunate not to have more damage done to his car as, along the lengthy back straight on lap 28, whilst he was coming up to overtake Hamilton, the German's nose section suddenly drooped. This caused the front wing to drag along the tarmac, creating a spectacular shower of sparks for the better part of a lap.

It didn't take long for the Safety Car to re-emerge after the race restarted on lap 37, as Adrian Sutil misjudged his braking for turn three and clouted the side of Webber's car. Whilst the Force India was able to continue, the impact burst the Red Bull's oil radiator, causing car #2 to burst into flames for the second time in as many races.

Force India ultimately chose to retire Sutil with a few laps remaining, any chance of scoring points having gone up in smoke along with Webber's car when the German picked up a drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding, rounding off a dismal afternoon for the team during which Paul Di Resta retired with yet another driving error. The Scot held his hands up to his mistake on this occasion, but his F1 career could be in grave danger if he suffers any more slips like this in the remaining races.

Between the Safety Car periods, Raikkonen set about challenging Grosjean for second place. The Finn was able to dive underneath his Lotus teammate at the first corner on lap 38, but, once the race got back underway in earnest, Vettel quickly began to pull clear.

Indeed, there was nothing Raikkonen could do to prevent Vettel from reeling off the remaining laps and sealing his 34th career victory in typically dominant style. His championship lead now stands at 77 points, meaning the German has a chance of wrapping things up next time out at Japan if his closest rival Alonso fails to score at least three points.

Raikkonen and Grosjean held on for second and third places, the third time this season that the Lotus duo have completed the podium behind Vettel. After being passed, Grosjean closed in on his teammate in the closing laps, and admitted to being disappointed that the team didn't order Raikkonen aside. Still, it was another assured drive from Grosjean, who now looks to be well-placed to lead Lotus next year in Kimi's absence.

With any luck, lining up alongside Grosjean in 2014 will be Hulkenberg, who was undoubtedly driver of the race in fourth place. The Sauber driver moved ahead of the ailing Hamilton just after the first restart with a decisive pass at the unlikely location of turn 15, and held on thereafter to match his best finish in F1.

Hulkenberg's traction out of the first corner and impressive top speed were enough to keep Hamilton frustrated, meaning the Englishman was forced to be content with fifth place ahead of Alonso, Rosberg and Button, who fell behind the second Mercedes with two laps remaining.

Daniel Ricciardo was on course to finish a fine ninth place, but suffered brake problems just two laps from home and was obliged to park his Toro Rosso. The same problem also halted the progress of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, though the Frenchman was never in the frame for a points finish.

That meant that the points finishers were completed by Massa and Perez, both of whom did well to recover from their earlier dramas. Just missing out on his first points finish in 11th, following another Q3 appearance on Saturday, was Esteban Gutierrez in the second Sauber, whose inexperience showed during a wheel-to-wheel battle with his fellow Latin Americans late in the race.

Next home were the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado, who were off the pace as ever even if the latter was able to drag his car as high as ninth place in the opening laps thanks to a scintillating start. Charles Pic came home in 14th, just one place shy of the magic 13th position that would see his Caterham team re-take tenth in the constructors' standings ahead of Marussia.

It was certainly an eventful, if not hugely exciting race at Korea, yet one which many paddock insiders expect to be the last. Should this transpire to be the case, the Yeongam circuit will be remembered predominantly for Vettel's sheer brilliance at the venue - hardly a trait which is likely to mean that it is missed by the vast majority of F1 fans.