2013 Korean Grand Prix - Sebastian Vettel wins 4th successive race, Lotus complete podium

The 2013 edition of the Korean Grand Prix further reinforced the hold Sebastian Vettel has on the Drivers’ championship as the Red Bull driver won his 4th successive race, taking an almost unassailable 77 point lead over Fernando Alonso.

While the lead was never in doubt from the start of the race, there was quite an epic battle behind him, with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean trading places for 2nd and 3rd places. Further back, Nico Hulkenberg was having a gem of a race in keeping his 4th place position beating off Lewis Hamilton, who himself was having to hold out Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button.

The Safety Car helped both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean as they made their pit stops in time to claim positions up front. There were 2 Safety Car periods in the race. The first one was when Sergio Perez had problems with his tyres and spun out, in the 31st lap. Almost everyone jumped in to the pits, but it was Vettel and Grosjean who came out in the lead. But after the Safety Car was off the track, Kimi made a splendid move on his team mate to wrest 2nd place from him. From there, it was a constant battle between the two, with Kimi holding out to keep his place.

The 2nd time the Safety Car took control of the race was when Adrian Sutil crashed into Mark Webber as a result of a spin, which caused a fire on the Red Bull. With the fire truck also coming on to the track, there was a lot of confusion on the track.

In the end, Lotus had a great race, with both drivers on the podium while Vettel continued his rich vein of form to win yet another race.

On a side note, there was no booing when Vettel came on the podium, which was a welcome change!