Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has secured his fourth F1 victory in a row, following an eventful Korean Grand Prix.
Vettel had secured pole position during qualifying, with Hamilton and Webber behind. The Red Bull ace charged forwards from the start, predictably securing himself an early lead. Shortly after Massa span his Ferrari, causing a fracas in which both Sutil and Button picked up wing damage.
Both Grosjean and Hamilton then spent the first half of the race trying to catch an increasingly quick Vettel. Tailing the lead three were Rosberg, followed by Hulkenberg, Alonso and the remainder of the pack.
As the race progressed, Hamilton's tyres began to wear at an excessive rate, causing the gap between his Mercedes and Grosjean's Lotus to grow. With Hamilton's pace declining, his team-mate Rosberg went to overtake only for his front wing to collapse, slowing his Mercedes.
Raikkonen seized the opportunity, gaining two places before the safety car was called out after Perez's right-front tyre disintegrated, shedding debris across the track. Webber, who was following behind Perez, hit the debris and picked up a puncture.
Following the restart, Vettel accelerated away from Grosjean and Raikkonen, the Lotus pair swapping places following a bold overtaking move a lap later.
Sutil then spun, slamming in to Webber. His Red Bull promptly caught fire in the run-off area, causing some alarm as a firefighting vehicle entered the circuit without a preceding safety car.
With the fire extinguished, the truck off the track and the race back underway, Vettel pulled away from Raikkonen and Grosjean again to finish first.
Vettel was joined on the podium by Raikkonen, in second, and Grosjean, third. Vettel currently leads the championship with 272 points, followed by Alonso with 195 and Raikkonen with 167.
The next F1 race takes place on 13 October, in Japan.
Results (provisional)
Korean Grand Prix, 6 October 2013
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
3. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
4. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
8. Jenson Button (McLaren)
9. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
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For a while the Jeep Cherokee
For a while the Jeep Cherokee was leading the pack...
F1 comes and goes in waves.
Remember the all conquering Williams team? They were the Red Bull of the 80s / early 90s - using technical advantage to win.
Then Ferrari and McLaren, who seem to wax and wane like the tide.
Vettel has a good car package and a driving style that can leverage the car's abilities. (Hence why Webber, a good driver in himself, doesn't seem quite able to match)
The interest will be on next season, with the engine changes
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LP is quite correct about the best team/driver winning but it doesn't make for an interesting weekend.
Next year's rule changes will alter the playing field and you won't see the same dominance (boredom). The rules have been stable for a few seasons and Red Bull has exploited them better than anyone. The dominance you see in this 2nd half of the season will be as much to do with teams focusing on 2014 and ignoring development for this season.
In sport, if you change one part of the successful package you will see change. Take Man Utd, the players are the same but change the man in charge and their dominance goes out of the window. For F1 2014, the new engines and related systems throw up so many variables it'll take a season or two for a dominant team to emerge.
Red Bull will be in as good a position as anyone to take advantage of the new rules and produce a fast car, they undoubtedly will, but I anticipate and much more varied 2014.
You may wish to write-off the rest of this season, the other teams have.
Here we go again!
F1 getting boring again?,well, judging by some of the interviews the drivers are,Lewis,Fernando to name two looked like they were planning there Holidays if there expressions were anything to go by,and you can understand why,what makes the Redbull car so dominant?,well,apart from the obvious answer,is it just that,by some freak of human nature ,that the other teams are rubbish this season?
Bernie will hope nxt weeks Japanese isn't won by Vettel,because a lot of people will not bother to watch the remaining races,and, it might damage nxt yrs too!