A visibly disappointed Fernando Alonso has in Korea finally lost his long-standing championship lead, as his title rival Sebastian Vettel won a third consecutive grand prix on Sunday. Red Bull's Ger...
A visibly disappointed Fernando Alonso has in Korea finally lost his long-standing championship lead, as his title rival Sebastian Vettel won a third consecutive grand prix on Sunday.
Red Bull's German, who finished 8 seconds ahead of his teammate and pole sitter Mark Webber, is now 6 points ahead of Spaniard Alonso with just four races still to run.
Given the new dominance of the RB8 car - whose designer Adrian Newey collected the constructors' trophy on Sunday's podium - Vettel must now be considered the favourite to secure a third consecutive drivers' title next month.
"At the moment Red Bull are difficult to beat," Alonso, who finished third ahead of his resurgent teammate Felipe Massa, admitted to podium interviewer Johnny Herbert.
Vettel said: "I'm looking forward to the next couple of races."
Pos |
No |
Driver |
Team |
Laps |
Time/Retired |
Grid |
Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
1 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull Racing-Renault |
55 |
1:36:28.651 |
2 |
25 |
2 |
2 |
Mark Webber |
Red Bull Racing-Renault |
55 |
+8.2 secs |
1 |
18 |
3 |
5 |
Fernando Alonso |
Ferrari |
55 |
+13.9 secs |
4 |
15 |
4 |
6 |
Felipe Massa |
Ferrari |
55 |
+20.1 secs |
6 |
12 |
5 |
9 |
Kimi Räikkönen |
Lotus-Renault |
55 |
+36.7 secs |
5 |
10 |
6 |
12 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India-Mercedes |
55 |
+45.3 secs |
8 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
Romain Grosjean |
Lotus-Renault |
55 |
+54.8 secs |
7 |
6 |
8 |
17 |
Jean-Eric Vergne |
STR-Ferrari |
55 |
+69.5 secs |
16 |
4 |
9 |
16 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
STR-Ferrari |
55 |
+71.7 secs |
21 |
2 |
10 |
4 |
Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren-Mercedes |
55 |
+79.6 secs |
3 |
1 |
11 |
15 |
Sergio Perez |
Sauber-Ferrari |
55 |
+80.0 secs |
12 |
|
12 |
11 |
Paul di Resta |
Force India-Mercedes |
55 |
+84.4 secs |
14 |
|
13 |
7 |
Michael Schumacher |
Mercedes |
55 |
+89.2 secs |
10 |
|
14 |
18 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Williams-Renault |
55 |
+94.9 secs |
15 |
|
15 |
19 |
Bruno Senna |
Williams-Renault |
55 |
+96.9 secs |
17 |
|
16 |
21 |
Vitaly Petrov |
Caterham-Renault |
54 |
+1 Lap |
18 |
|
17 |
20 |
Heikki Kovalainen |
Caterham-Renault |
54 |
+1 Lap |
19 |
|
18 |
24 |
Timo Glock |
Marussia-Cosworth |
54 |
+1 Lap |
20 |
|
19 |
25 |
Charles Pic |
Marussia-Cosworth |
53 |
+2 Laps |
24 |
|
20 |
23 |
Narain Karthikeyan |
HRT-Cosworth |
53 |
+2 Laps |
23 |
|
Ret |
22 |
Pedro de la Rosa |
HRT-Cosworth |
16 |
Throttle |
22 |
|
Ret |
14 |
Kamui Kobayashi |
Sauber-Ferrari |
16 |
Accident damage |
13 |
|
Ret |
8 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
1 |
Accident |
9 |
|
Ret |
3 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren-Mercedes |
1 |
Accident |
11 |
Note - Pic dropped ten grid places for an unscheduled engine change; Ricciardo dropped five - gearbox penalty. Karthikeyan failed to set a Q3 time within the 107% requirement - raced at stewards' discretion.
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