South Korea – Race: Vettel’s Stroll in the Land of Morning Calm

It is under a cloudy sky but with an ambient temperature of 23°C that everyone prepares for the race. On the grid, all drivers are on Super Soft tires with red sidewalls, except for Button, Perez, Kobayashi, Di Resta, Vergne, and de la Rosa, who will start on Soft tires with yellow sidewalls.

After the warm-up lap, Mark Webber returns to the pole position spot on the starting grid, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso. At the extinguishing of the lights, Sebastian Vettel gets the better of his teammate right at the first corner. While the two Red Bull drivers fight for first place on the straight, with the German maintaining the advantage, Lewis Hamilton has to deal with Fernando Alonso’s pace on the long straight and finds himself under dual threat from Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa.

After fighting for the podium last week, Kamui Kobayashi collided with Jenson Button’s McLaren at the braking of turn no.3, forcing Button to retire with a broken right front wheel. Nico Rosberg also didn’t make it past the first lap, while Kobayashi returned to the pits to change the front wing: the Japanese driver went back a few laps later to serve a penalty pass through the pits.

After 5 laps, Sebastian Vettel leads Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen, Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Pérez, and Michael Schumacher. With Nico Rosberg’s car stopped on the side in the DRS zone and the marshals slow to clear it, race control decides to temporarily suspend DRS activation. However, this does not prevent Vergne and then Ricciardo from taking care of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna.

At the front of the race, Sebastian Vettel leads his teammate by 2.6 seconds on lap twelve, while Alonso and Hamilton are trailing by 6 and 8 seconds respectively. Behind them, the battle for tenth place is heating up between Michael Schumacher and Paul di Resta, all under the watchful eye of Jean-Eric Vergne.

On the 14th lap, Lewis Hamilton is the first to pit for the hardest tires. Hülkenberg, Grosjean, Vergne, and Kovalainen follow the Brit’s lead. The next lap, Mark Webber also goes through the pits, as do Massa and Räikkönen. On the 16th lap, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso switch to soft tires. However, the stops do not disrupt the hierarchy as Alonso contests the third place with Sergio Pérez, who also has to yield, at the 4th corner, to Lewis Hamilton. The Mexican, on an alternate strategy, does not resist Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen either before stopping on the 19th lap to switch to soft tires.

During this time, Romain Grosjean is stuck behind Pastor Maldonado’s Williams and allows Nico Hülkenberg to widen the gap, as Pastor Maldonado still hasn’t stopped with his Super Soft tires. However, the Frenchman manages to get past the Venezuelan at the braking of turn 3.

At McLaren, Lewis Hamilton seems to complain about a loss of downforce as he loses ground to Fernando Alonso and finds himself threatened by Felipe Massa, to whom he doesn’t put up much resistance in the DRS zone on lap 21. The Brit is lapping over a minute forty-six, while those ahead of him are running under a minute forty-five, with the exception of Mark Webber. The McLaren soon finds itself in a battle with Kimi Räikkönen, as the Finn overtakes the 2008 champion in turn 3 before Hamilton takes his position back in turn 4. Behind them, Jean-Eric Vergne uses the DRS to get past Michael Schumacher for tenth place.

In the 27th lap, Sebastian Vettel strings together the fastest laps like pearls, leading his teammate by ten seconds; the German’s race engineer insistently asks him to manage his tires. Also struggling with his tires, Lewis Hamilton makes a pit stop for his second change to fit Soft tires. However, once again, the Briton’s stop drags on. Coming out in eighth position, the native of Stevenage continues to complain about the nervousness of his car.

In front of him, the fight rages between Romain Grosjean and Nico Hülkenberg for sixth place. The German asks his race engineer if he’s losing time by resisting the Frenchman, who prefers to anticipate his stop on the 32nd lap to switch to Soft tires.

On the next lap, Mark Webber also stops to put on Soft tires, just like Nico Hülkenberg, who, however, cannot resist Romain Grosjean, who sets the fastest lap of the race.

Ahead, Felipe Massa steadily chips away at his gap behind Fernando Alonso, who pits on lap 35 to switch to Soft tires: the Spaniard comes out behind Mark Webber. After a mistake at the braking of turn 3, causing a flat spot on one of his front tires, Sebastian Vettel goes through the pits at the end of lap 36, followed by Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen.

Thus, at the 37th lap, Vettel still leads the race ahead of Webber, Alonso, Massa, Räikkönen, Hamilton, Vergne, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, and Ricciardo. Further back, Paul di Resta gains an advantage over Michael Schumacher.

At Ferrari, Rob Smedley asks Felipe Massa to keep his distance from Alonso to avoid overheating his tires in the Spaniard’s turbulence, especially since the Brazilian has no interest in outpacing his teammate who is fighting for the title.

A few hundred meters further, Romain Grosjean tries to overtake Lewis Hamilton at turn #3, but the Frenchman is forced to go wide. The Lotus driver tries again at turn 4, but it’s Nico Hülkenberg who overtakes Hamilton at Grosjean’s expense. The tricolor driver is perhaps overly cautious. Fortunately for him, Lewis Hamilton stops on lap 43 for his third pit stop: the British team opts for the Super Soft tires. In the process, Romain Grosjean has lost a position to Nico Hülkenberg, who has even managed to widen the gap.

While at the front of the race, Red Bull seems very concerned about tire management, the Ferrari drivers are running faster than their Milton Keynes counterparts, and Jean-Eric Vergne valiantly resists Lewis Hamilton for the ninth place. As both men catch up to Daniel Ricciardo on the 53rd lap, the Australian moves aside to let his teammate through and position himself in front of Lewis Hamilton. The Briton, meanwhile, picks up a long strip of astroturf on his floor, disrupting the aerodynamic balance of his MP4-27. The Toro Rosso drivers can therefore calmly look forward to the end of the race.

At Red Bull, Guillaume Roquelin is much less calm, urging Sebastian Vettel to temper his enthusiasm and take care of his mechanics and tires until the finish line. However, nothing prevents the German from triumphing under the checkered flag waved by PSY with Gangnam Style. Webber secures the one-two for Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, while Lewis Hamilton has to resist until the last meters against Sergio Pérez’s Sauber.

2012 Korean Grand Prix Standings: