Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) became the new championship favourite and provisional leader in Yeongam by taking his third consecutive win this weekend.

Vettel lost out on pole the day before, to his teammate Mark Webber, but a great getaway at the start put him in a lead he would never let go. Webber managed to complete the 1-2 for Red Bull.

Meanwhile, Alonso did good enough to finish on the podium, but was powerless to Vettel and Webber's pace.

His teammate Felipe Massa reinforced his own chances of staying at Ferrari thanks to yet another strong performance. The Brazilian finished the race fourth, some seven seconds behind his Alonso after the team ordered him to maintain positions.

McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton both had an unrewarding race. Button was shoved out of the race on lap one by Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), while Hamilton endured a bad second stint, so bad the 2008 world champion was forced to switch to a three-stop strategy. Hamilton ended the race in 10th.

At Mercedes, Nico Rosberg was the second victim of the incident that involved Button. Michael Schumacher, in his first race since the announcement of his second retirement, seemed to lack pace. The German fell from his 10th position on the grid to 13th at the finish.

Nico Hulkenberg highlighted Force India's weekend by taking sixth, thanks to a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre that allowed him passed Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Hamilton's McLaren all at once.

Grosjean earned seventh at the finish, the best piece of news for him being that he survived the first lap. Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo earned solid points for their Toro Rosso team, taking home eighth and ninth.

In the championship, Vettel now leads Alonso by six points with only four stops remaining on the calendar: India, Abu Dhabi, United States and Brazil.



Race results* – Korean Grand Prix (Yeongam)
1 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 55 laps 1.36'28"651
2 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 8"231
3 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 13"944
4 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 20"168
5 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 36"739
6 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 45"301
7 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E20-Renault) - 54"812
8 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'09"589
9 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'11"787
10 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1'19"692
11 - Sergio Perez (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'20"062
12 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'24"448
13 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'29"241
14 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'34"924
15 - Bruno Senna (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'36"902
16 - Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap
17 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap
18 - Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1 lap
19 - Charles Pic (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 2 lap
20 - Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 2 lap

Fastest lap of the race: Mark Webber 1'42"037

Retirements
Lap 1 - Jenson Button
Lap 2 - Nico Rosberg
Lap 17 - Kamui Kobayashi
Lap 17 - Pedro De La Rosa

Drivers' championship
1.Vettel 215; 2.Alonso 209; 3.Raikkonen 167; 4.Hamilton 153; 5.Webber 152; 6.Button 131; 7.Rosberg 93; 8.Grosjean 88; 9.Massa 81; 10.Perez 66; 11.Kobayashi 50; 12.Hulkenberg 45; 13.Di Resta 44; 14.Schumacher 43; 15.Maldonado 33; 16.Senna 25; 17.Vergne 12; 18.Ricciardo 9.

Constructors championship
1.Red Bull-Renault 367; 2.Ferrari 290; 3.McLaren-Mercedes 284; 4.Lotus-Renault 255; 5.Mercedes 136; 6.Sauber-Ferrari 116; 7.Force India-Mercedes 89; 8.Williams-Renault 58; 9.Toro Rosso-Ferrari 21.

*Unofficial results