Exiting turn 2 Vettel slotted in behind the McLaren. Tucking himself under his opponents rear wing he darted out to the left causing Hamilton to defend into the next right hander. The Red Bull tucked in again, slip streaming him down to turn four, taking to the smallest of gaps to the inside on the dirty line. Vettel shot through, just made the corner and was a second ahead at the end of the lap. The race was won.
The Korean Grand Prix was full of incident and wheel to wheel action resulting in another victory for Sebastian Vettel and clinching the constructor’s championship for Red Bull. But it was Lewis Hamilton who was most interesting, from his performance in the car to his attitude outside it.
Lewis was wonderful to watch on Saturday, the car was alive and as he drove a truly breath taking pole position, the first time Red Bull had been defeated on a Saturday afternoon.
It goes to show that Lewis still has the pace underneath all his troubles. Sadly the McLaren just wasn’t strong enough to live with the pace of Red Bull on Sunday but we saw Lewis drive a strong, clean race to score a solid second place.
It could ignite the momentum to get him back to where he should be, fighting at the front. He made a good start, but was passed by Vettel on the first lap, from then on he managed to keep around a second behind but was unable to challenge, especially when Mark Webber latched on to the back of him after the final round of pit stops.
There was intelligent racing to see from Lewis, he was aggressive in the right places, after exiting the pits at the second pit stops, he raced wheel to wheel with Webber for several corners. He also understood to let him go like at the end of the pit straight when he was caught out by Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus.
Webber dived to the inside, Hamilton didn’t fight it, letting him go, knowing he’d be in the detection zone for the DRS. Sure enough he passed down the longest straight in Formula 1 and continued to hold him behind.
It was made all the more impressive by the acknowledgement of McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh that Hamilton had been fighting with a lack of down force. During the opening laps the McLaren lost up to 10 points of down force causing the car to slide. Perhaps without such a problem it could have been Hamilton’s day?
So it was a return to form in some respects but he certainly didn’t look happy about it. After claiming pole he seemed downbeat, his second place and strong race failed to cheer him up much more, just what is it that has plagued Lewis’ mind this year?
Realistically, an on form Lewis Hamilton in a car that even has a sniff of victory will be the most likely driver to take on Red Bull next year, and when he’s on form it’s racing, and driving that is simply exhilarating to behold. We can only hope this result will be built upon in the next three races.
Alonso frustration begins to boil
The other driver you’d have to pick in a top 3 right now is Fernando Alonso, but even he, the man who never gives up is capable of throwing his toys out of the pram as had been witnessed a few times in his career.
This year he was meant to win, taking his form from last year when he came within a few places of taking the title he should have been the man to take the title. But it’s been nothing like it and that frustration seems to be taking hold of him, perhaps a bit like Lewis.
After staying out longer at the second pit stops he was finally able to get by his team mate Felipe Massa and set some astounding laps to catch up to the back of the battle for second between Hamilton, Webber and Jenson Button. But with two laps to go he came on the radio saying ‘I give up’, finishing in fifth. The BBC commentary team seemed to think this was just a bluff, but I see it as a driver who despite the hard work from Ferrari, has not seen a significant improvement through the year.
He has dragged this car to results it shouldn’t have got, but Alonso was expecting so much more from this year. It’s now been five years since he last won the title, he’s been replaced by Vettel as the youngest double champion, and the odds are against him getting a third before the young German. It’ll be interesting to see just how he’ll respond in the last three races of the year.
The accident: Alonso misses but Petrov scores against Schumacher
It could have been worse for Alonso, after the first pit stops he was jumped by Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes who again belied his qualifying form to produce a strong race and was maximising his strategy yet again.
Vitaly Petrov was also on Alonso’s tail on lap 16, his tyres already up to temperature as the Ferrari exited the pits. Slip streaming with the aid of the DRS they both forgot about anyone else, missing their braking points, if anything Alonso was slightly worse careering straight on just missing the back of Schumacher as he entered turn three.
However, Petrov scored a direct hit, wiping out the Mercedes and curtailing his own race too whilst also bringing out the safety car. He's received a five place grid penalty in India for causing an avoidable accident. It freed up Alonso to pursue a top 5 result otherwise he’d probably have been even more annoyed.
Alguersuari is star of the race in seventh
Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso drove a simply outstanding race. He started 11th so was in the thick of the action from the start this time and he applied himself well moving into the top 10 early on.
Most impressive was the way he was able to set competitive lap times despite staying out longer on older tyres. It set him up well for the end of the race. He was chasing Nico Rosberg who had pitted much earlier for his last stint as he’d ruined his tyres through locking up. Alguersuari on fresher rubber hunted him down and attacked him for lap after lap.
Finally on the last lap, Rosberg’s tyres were finished, he made a mistake and Alguersuari activated the DRS and was finally through to seventh. It was another highlight for what is turning out to be a decent year for the Toro Rosso driver.
Another perfect drive in a near perfect season for Vettel
Sebastian Vettel drove a champion’s drive today. This is what he wanted last week in Japan, but his first race as double world champion resulted in a supreme victory, in fact it was one of his most dominant of the season. And the wonderful thing is he seems so grateful and happy to just be a part of this sport.
In interviews after the race he was ebullient with not only victory, but just being able to drive a Formula 1 car and live out his dreams.
Vettel made a decent start maintaining second place. Exiting turn 2 he slotted in behind the McLaren of Hamilton, tucking himself under his opponents rear wing, he darted out to the left causing Hamilton to defend in to the next right hander. Vettel tucked in again, slip streaming him down to turn four, he moved out to the left, taking to the smallest of gaps to the inside on the dirty line. He shot through, just made the corner and was a second ahead at the end of the lap.
No one was to get any closer to him for the rest of the race. He maintained the gap perfectly and once Lewis and Webber started battling he shot off up the road by 12 seconds and on the last tour, set the fastest lap by a clear second to take his 10th win of the season and 20th in his career.
Rest of the top 10
Webber had a decent race for third, if he’d pitted earlier than Hamilton I think he could have challenged for the win, but it wasn’t to be, a strong battling performance.
After the highs of Japan, Jenson Button was significantly outperformed by a Lewis Hamilton who still seems to be under the weather. He’ll have to be at the top of his game for the rest of the year if he wants to stay ahead of him in the championship. Still fourth was a fine result after being shuffled back at the start to sixth.
Massa had a fantastic start, getting up to third at one point before settling behind Webber in fourth. Dropped places to Button, then Alonso in the pit stops and ended up sixth. At least he couldn’t get angry about Hamilton this time.
Nico Rosberg blamed his tyres for what looked like a promising race to begin with. Held onto the top six well during the first stint, but after changing from the super soft to the soft tyre, he flat spotted them, resulting in an early second pit stop and lost a lot of time. Caught out on the last lap and ended up in eighth.
Sebastian Buemi in the Toro Rosso had a strong drive finishing ninth despite losing four places at the start due to a Sauber hitting him. He fought hard and passed his way back into contention.
Paul di Resta scored points again for Force India. Seemed to fall back during the latter part of his stints, his tyres not holding up, but still managed to maintain position ahead of his team mate. He thought the team had been too conservative with strategy but realistically they weren’t going to get better than a ninth at best today such was the pace of those around them.
A mention to Heikki Kovalainen again, this time for finishing 14th ahead of both Sauber’s, an exceptional race for Lotus whose pace on Sunday’s is getting better all the time despite poor qualifying, and it’s nice to see one of the new teams starting to mix it with the regulars.
Finally young Red Bull protégé Daniel Ricciardo driving for HRT also had a strong race, finishing above a Virgin as he continues to make progress.
So on to India for their debut race. It’s meant to be one of the better new circuits that have been introduced over the years, full of passing opportunities and a wide surface. Sebastian Vettel will be looking for another win, but Lewis Hamilton is back in the game, don’t be surprised to see him return to the top.
All photos taken from autosport.com
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