Formula 1 - Korean Grand Prix 2013

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Everything as before
After the previous day's qualifying, it was to be expected that Sebastian Vettel would take a start-finish victory - again, it has to be said. This clear superiority is a problem for the entertainment value of the sport: If I already know at the beginning how the race will end, the air is out of the suspense and boredom takes over. But other surprises provide some astonishment and entertainment value. But everything nicely in order.

Unspectacular start
The start is pretty unspectacular. On 1 Sebastian Vettel, next to him Lewis Hamilton, behind them Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg in the second row. The traffic lights go out, Vettel can pull away, Hamilton can only follow, one is almost a bit disappointed after the close qualifying, worse Grosjean makes pressure and catches Hamilton in the first corners and Vettel pulls away and already puts a gap of 2.1 seconds on the chasers after the first lap. Massa spins in turn three and almost crashes, and happily for the Swiss Sauber team, Hülkenberg is already in 5th place ahead of Alonso. On lap 8, Räikkönen overtakes Alonso, who obviously has a problem with speed, with the DRS? On the 11th lap, Vettel and Grosjean change tires for the first time.

Exciting battles among the chasers
After Vettel and Grosjean followed by the Mercedes pull away at the front and drive a somewhat lonely race, the battle for fifth place in laps 15-25 looks a lot more exciting. In particular, Nico Hülkenberg on Sauber is challenged to the utmost, as he is chased within tenths of a second by Fernando Alonso on Ferrari and chased around the corners. It's therefore no surprise that Hülkenberg occasionally slows down in tight right-hand corners and causes his right front tire to smoke, but the impressive acceleration of the Sauber out of the corners keeps all his pursuers at bay. On the 26th lap, Paul di Resta retires from the race and lies in the grass. On the 27th lap, Hülkenberg goes into the pits for a tire change. Hamilton, for his part, complains over the radio that his tires are at the end, his teammate Nico Rosberg has obviously "managed" better here, because the latter catches up to Hamilton a near 10-second gap and overtakes him on the long straight on the 28th lap, when during the overtaking maneuver for some inexplicable reason the nose of his Formula 1 car tilts forward and causes a spark. Rosberg has to pit and loses 22.6 seconds in the pits as the mechanics fail to change the front right away. A huge disappointment for the likeable driver, he had seen himself on the podium once again with his "housekeeping" when it came to tire wear and Hamilton's overtaking maneuver and was now undeservedly dropped back, the race was of course over for him after this mishap, what bad luck! Even after the race he was pretty down with the nerves because of it. Understandable.

2 Safety Car phases
On the 31st lap, Sergio Perez suffers a puncture: The rubber of the front right tire blows up with parts of the side casing, which slam back onto the track and endanger the following cars, so a safety car phase is called. On the 37th lap, the safety car phase ends and Vettel pulls away again, followed by Grosjean, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, Hamilton, Alonso and Button. Barely restarted, Mark Webber is shot down by a Force India in a corner and damages its car, which shortly after begins to burn strongly. Without waiting for the Safety Car to show up, the firefighters rush onto the track and somewhat chaotically the 2nd Safety Car phase is initiated on the 38th lap. On the 47th lap, the 2nd safety car phase ends and Vettel leads ahead of Räikkönen, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, Alonso and Hamilton.

Once again exciting fight among the chasers
After Vettel is able to pull away followed by Lotus, the battle for 4th place gains some more tension. Hamilton overtakes Hülkenberg, but the latter strikes back at the next opportunity and Alonso tries to capitalize on this duel, but Hülkenberg on Sauber asserts himself as the winner this race weekend ahead of big other teams like Ferrari and Mercedes because he knows how to keep the big teams at bay thanks to impressive acceleration out of the corners.

In the end, unsurprisingly, Sebastian Vettel on Red Bull wins, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean on Lotus. Raikkonen thus gives the lie to all those who had accused him of lacking talent or motivation due to the weak qualifying.

Ranking list Korean Grand Prix 2013

1st Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:43:13.701
2nd Kimi Raikkonen Lotus +4.2 sec.
3rd Romain Grosjean Lotus +4.9 sec.
4th Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +24.1 sec.
5th Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +25.2 sec.
6th Fernando Alonso Ferrari +26.1 sec.
7th Nico Rosberg Mercedes +26.6 sec.
8th Jenson Button McLaren +32.2 sec.
9th Felipe Massa +34.3 sec.
10th Sergio Perez McLaren +35.1 sec.
11th Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +35.9 sec.
12th Valtteri Bottas Williams +47.0 sec.
13th Pastor Maldonado Williams +50.0 sec.
14th Charles Pic Caterham +63.5 sec.
15th Giedo van der Garde Caterham +64.5 sec.
16th Jules Bianchi Marussia +67.9 sec.
17th Max Chilton Marussia +72.8 sec.
Failures
18th Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso Lap 53
19th Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso Lap 52
20 Adrian Sutil Force India Lap 50
Ret Mark Webber Red Bull Racing Lap 36
Ret Paul di Resta Force India Lap 24