Korean GP – Race: Vettel and Webber secure the title for Red Bull Renault

For McLaren’s 700th Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton takes pole position hoping to convert it into a victory. Right from the start, the Brit maintains the lead but has to defend it in the next two straights, with Sebastian Vettel taking over at the end of turn 4’s hairpin while Jenson Button succumbs to the combined attacks of Mark Webber and both Ferrari drivers. At the end of the first lap, Vettel leads Hamilton, followed by Webber, Massa, Alonso, Button, Rosberg, Petrov, Di Resta, and Schumacher.

Vettel, as usual, creates a small gap at the front that puts him out of DRS range, while a light rain falls on some sections of the circuit, prompting drivers to be cautious rather than disrupting the race. In the pack, Sebastian Buemi overtakes Maldonado in the DRS zone, just like Michael Schumacher, on lap 5, over Paul di Resta, the German also well aided by the top speed of his Mercedes.

At the front of the race, Vettel and Hamilton are gradually breaking away from the chasing group led by Mark Webber in third. Di Resta, who complained on the radio about graining issues on his tires, loses the battle for 10th place to Jaime Alguersuari, on soft tires. After 8 laps, Jenson Button, in sixth, is the fastest driver on the track as the soft tires seem to be losing performance. His teammate appears to be struggling the most with his tires, losing a few tenths per lap and trailing the race leader by two and a half seconds by the 10th lap.

Jenson Button puts pressure on Fernando Alonso, behind whom he’s losing time. As proof, it’s now Sebastian Vettel who is setting the fastest laps in the race while Paul di Resta is the first driver to pit on lap 12 to change his tires: the Scot switches to super softs. Teams will likely take advantage of the pit stops to adjust their wing settings.

On the 14th lap, in order to stop losing time behind the Ferrari drivers, Jenson Button pits, followed by Nico Rosberg. The German is quicker in the pit box and gets ahead of the Briton in the pit lane, but the Mercedes driver locks his wheels exiting the pit lane and is overtaken by an opportunistic Button right at the exit. Rosberg, benefiting from his top speed, regains the advantage on the long straight, while Webber opts for soft tires. On the 16th lap, Lewis Hamilton pits and switches to super soft tires, while Fernando Alonso opts for soft tires. Exiting behind Schumacher’s Mercedes, the Spaniard narrowly avoids a collision with the German.

In the next round, Sebastian Vettel makes his pit stop and switches to super soft tires while the yellow flag is waved for a collision between Petrov and Schumacher: the safety car is deployed to clear the debris. Battling with Fernando Alonso on the long straight, the Russian brakes too late and hits the German’s rear wing, thus destroying his front wing, which lies on the track. Retirement for the Lotus Renault Grand Prix driver and his Mercedes counterpart.

At the restart, Vettel leads Hamilton, Webber, Button, Rosberg, Massa, and Alonso. The Australian driver and the Ferrari drivers are on a different strategy, having all chosen to switch to soft tires. Right from the straight, Button, who has the advantage of the tires, puts pressure on Webber, who must work hard to maintain his position with authority.

On lap 22, Pastor Maldonado receives a drive-through penalty for an irregular entry into the pit lane, while on the track he falls under Buemi’s control at the DRS braking zone. At the front of the race, Vettel makes an effort once more to build a lead over Lewis Hamilton.

Behind, the battle between Kobayashi’s Sauber and Bruno Senna rages, with the Brazilian making an assertive overtaking move at turn 4 while the Japanese driver is hindered by a damaged front wing. The Sauber driver is now under threat from the Team Lotus drivers but chooses to pit to change the front wing.

Behind Nico Rosberg, the Ferrari drivers are becoming insistent, with Massa staying ahead of Alonso thanks to the DRS he can activate behind the Mercedes. The Spaniard is certainly putting in great efforts behind his teammate, but to no avail, while at the front, Lewis Hamilton has closed in within DRS range of the race leader, and Webber, on soft tires, the hardest supplied by Pirelli, is in the exhaust fumes of the McLaren driver.

On the 27th lap, Massa takes advantage of Rosberg’s blocking in red at the braking of turn #3 to overtake him, while Alonso, opportunistic, slips inside and assertively moves ahead of the German driver.

As in the first stint, Vettel gradually pulls away as the tires degrade, leaving Hamilton under direct threat from Mark Webber. By lap 32, the German leads Hamilton, Webber, Button, Massa, Alonso, Alguersuari, Sutil, Buemi, and Di Resta, while Perez and Barrichello are knocking on the door of the points, and Pastor Maldonado brings his car into the garage to retire.

Webber and Hamilton fiercely battle for second place, weaving through turns 4, 5, and 6, before both pitting simultaneously. The Briton stays ahead of the Australian with the soft tires like him. The two men put on a show on their out lap, with Hamilton maintaining the lead, while Vettel and Button take their turns down the pit lane, leaving Fernando Alonso in the lead. The Spaniard sets the fastest lap in the race while his teammate, who has already changed tires, loses time behind Sutil’s Force India.

The Ferrari driver puts on soft tires on the 38th lap and gets ahead of his teammate as he exits the pit lane, taking fifth position. With a clear track ahead of him, he sets the fastest laps and closes in on Jenson Button while his compatriot, Jaime Alguersuari, moves up to 8th place.

With 7 laps to go until the finish, Mark Webber attempts an overtake on Hamilton but brakes too late and loses traction exiting turn 3. Another battle to watch as the race nears its end, for the “best of the rest” position, between Rosberg and Alguersuari, with the Spaniard within DRS range of the Mercedes.

As Hamilton laps a Team Lotus, Webber catches him at the braking of the first corner, but the Briton can activate his DRS to retake his position immediately. This maneuver allows Button, but especially Alonso, to get closer while Buemi snatches 9th place from Di Resta, in the DRS zone.

At the front of the race, Sebastian Vettel now has a lead greater than ten seconds with 4 laps remaining, while Alonso is attacking at every turn in hopes of contesting Jenson Button for 4th place. But after a small warning during the braking of the first corner, the Spaniard finally gives up and secures fifth place, while Alguersuari, optimistic, attempts a DRS overtake on Rosberg but misses his braking. The Toro Rosso driver tries his luck again successfully on the next lap, the last of the race, and thus finishes the Grand Prix in seventh place, right ahead of the Mercedes driver.

Hamilton’s fastest lap in the race definitively seals the hierarchy. The German leads ahead of Hamilton and Webber, thereby securing the second consecutive constructors’ title for Red Bull and the tenth title for Renault as an engine supplier. The drivers from the Milton Keynes team return to the pits side by side.

The 2011 Korean Grand Prix Standings: