Category: Motor Racing

It was another Red Bull Racing front row and yet this time it’s Mark Webber who starts on pole position. The Australian edging out his team-mate Sebastian Vettel with a late Q3 run to take the top spot at Yas Marina.

Earlier, both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped the qualifying segment for Mercedes, but Red Bull’s pace at the crucial moment was too much, leaving the Silver Arrows on row two.

Vettel recorded a time of one minute, 40.091 seconds on his first run of Q3, ahead of the Mercedes duo, with Webber apparently struggling.

But a great final effort helped the Australian to one minute, 39.957 seconds and even a late improvement from the four-time world champion was not enough to deny Webber pole position.

Rosberg qualified in third ahead of his team-mate Hamilton, who spin off during his final run. As for Kimi Raikkonen, the Lotus driver secured fifth place.

Nico Hulkenberg continued his fine form for Sauber with sixth, ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

The lap times in Q2 were again highly competitive and two big names fell. Fernando Alonso’s car hated the final, twisty sector and the Ferrari driver could only managed P11, not helped by a minor error as well.

Jenson Button also failed to make into Q3 with the McLaren driver describing a “very strange” loss of grip after final practice.

With the Abu Dhabi circuit getting faster in Q1, the last soft-tyred runs proved crucial and it was Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil’s Force India who were the midfielders to fall.

Giedo van der Garde topped the Caterham/Marussia battle, while Jules Bianchi (who qualified in P20) will receive a five-place grid penalty after his gearbox needed changing thanks to his crash in final practice.

A few hours after qualifying, the race stewards have decided to exclude Kimi Raikkonen after his Lotus car failed a floor deflection test. The Iceman will now start Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the back.

So a fantastic achievement by Mark Webber in his final season of Formula 1 racing. This pole position is his 13th in the sport and he matches Jack Brabham’s record and on Alan Jones’ birthday too. Let’s hope he can win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to sign off his career in style.

Qualifying times from Abu Dhabi:

1.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault       1m39.957s
2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault       1m40.075s
3.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes               1m40.419s
4.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes               1m40.501s
5.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari         1m40.576s
6.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault          1m40.997s
7.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                1m41.015s
8.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes       1m41.068s
9.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.111s
10.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                1m41.093s
11.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes   1m41.133s
12.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes       1m41.200s
13.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.279s
14.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault       1m41.395s
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault       1m41.447s
16.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari         1m41.999s
17.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes   1m42.051s
18.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault       1m43.252s
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault       1m43.528s
20.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth      1m44.198s
21.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth      1m43.398s*
22.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault          1m40.542s**

107 per cent time: 1m47.741s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
**Sent to back of the grid for failing a technical inspection

Sebastian Vettel became the youngest four-time Formula 1 world champion after taking the chequered flag in style at the Indian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull Racing driver converted his pole position into the lead at the first corner at the Buddh International Circuit and despite the differences in tyre strategy, the defending world champion was on fine form to race against his rivals.

Vettel started on Pirelli’s soft tyres and was the first driver into the pits for the medium compound at the end of the second lap.

Once Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had got rid of their softs, Mark Webber was left in front while the German battled through the pack.

A combination of passing moves and pitstops for others quickly moved Vettel up from P18 to fifth. Despite being in traffic, he cut an 18-second deficit to his Red Bull team-mate to 11-second by the time the Australian made his first stop on lap 28.

By that point Vettel had passed Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, his future team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren’s Sergio Perez, meaning he retook the lead at this point.

Both Red Bull drivers made their final stops by lap 33, with the team adopting a similar, short-stint strategy on softs for Webber.

Webber’s 11-second deficit to Vettel before those final stops became one of more than 13-second after them, leading to the team instructing the German to ease his pace and protect his tyres.

It became irrelevant after ten laps when Webber was forced to retired from second position after suffering an alternator problem.

Webber’s misfortune promoted Kimi Raikkonen to second place, the Lotus driver attempting to make it to the finish with a 52-lap stint on medium Pirellis.

But The Iceman could not hold off the two-stopping Rosberg, who used his DRS to ease into second with eight laps to the flag. He finished 29-second behind Vettel as Red Bull clinched the constructors’ title.

Raikkonen’s pace during the final few laps was over a second slower than those chasing him, including his team-mate Grosjean, whose rubber was 46 laps old by the end.

The Frenchman, who started in P17, pulled onto Raikkonen’s tail with four laps to go and passed the Finn for third at the exit of Turn 4, only to cede back the place immediately to avoid a penalty.

Raikkonen let Grosjean by further around the lap to allow him to finish on the podium for a third consecutive race. He was then passed by Massa for fourth as they crossed the start/finish line seconds later.

The battling Hamilton and Perez were with Raikkonen a lap-and-a-half later, Perez using his DRS and KERS to pass both down the back straight and take fifth – his best result since joining McLaren last winter.

Raikkonen, who lost sixth to Hamilton during the same move, pitted for fresh rubber with just two laps to the end, but was able to remain ahead of Paul di Resta and set the race’s fastest lap.

Di Resta and Adrian Sutil made it two Force Indias in the points with Ricciardo completing the top ten.

Fernando Alonso, the only driver who arrived in India with a chance of denying Vettel the title, had a race fraught with incidents.

He stopped early for tyres and a new front wing after clipping Webber’s rear wing and damaging his nosecone at the exit of the Turn 1, and then banged wheels with Jenson Button two corners later.

The Ferrari driver spent his entire race in the midfield and finished P11 after stopping three times. And battling with Ricciardo, Pastor Maldonado and Button late on.

Nico Hulkenberg drove strongly all weekend and was on course for eighth when he pitted near the end with a problem with the floor of his Sauber. He retired with three laps left.

So, a remarkable victory for the 26-year-old German. Sebastian Vettel is now the sport’s youngest four-time world champion and joins the list of greats of achieving the ultimate prize.

Red Bull Racing also won the constructors’ title for the fourth consecutive season. With both championships done, the driver and team can now enjoy themselves in the remaining three races of the 2013 season.

Indian Grand Prix race results after 60 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           1h31:12.187
2.  Rosberg        Mercedes                   +29.823
3.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +39.892
4.  Massa          Ferrari                    +41.692
5.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +43.829
6.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +52.475
7.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +1:07.988
8.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes       +1:12.868
9.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +1:14.734
10.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:16.237
11.  Alonso         Ferrari                    +1:18.297
12.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault           +1:18.951
13.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
14.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
15.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari             +1 lap
16.  Bottas         Williams-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
18.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
19.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari             +6 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:27.679

Not classified/retirements:

Webber         Red Bull-Renault             40 laps
Pic            Caterham-Renault             36 laps
van der Garde  Caterham-Renault             2 laps

World Championship standings, round 16:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        322
2.  Alonso        207
3.  Raikkonen     183
4.  Hamilton      159
5.  Webber        148
6.  Rosberg       144
7.  Massa         102
8.  Grosjean      102
9.  Button         60
10.  Hulkenberg     49
11.  Di Resta       40
12.  Perez          33
13.  Sutil          28
14.  Ricciardo      19
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Gutierrez       6
17.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          470
2.  Ferrari                   309
3.  Mercedes                  303
4.  Lotus-Renault             285
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           93
6.  Force India-Mercedes       68
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             55
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         32
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina. November 1-3.

Sebastian Vettel achieved his 43rd pole position in Formula 1 with a commanding qualifying performance at the Buddh International Circuit.

The Red Bull Racing driver, who is on the verge in winning his fourth consecutive world championship at this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix, was 1.7 seconds faster than his rivals thanks to his first flying lap – a time of one minute, 24.119 seconds – which ultimately became pole.

That statistic was skewed by the fact that all those out on that stage were using medium compound whereas Vettel was on softs.

But even the soft tyre option for Mercedes meant Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were seven tenths off the championship leader as they took second and third.

The shock of qualifying was Romain Grosjean’s Q1 exit. After fighting for the Suzuka victory in the previous race, the Lotus driver will need to get through the field at Buddh having chosen to use medium tyres in Q1.

Vettel was the only other driver who went for that strategy, but while he had no problem getting through in P11, Grosjean could only manage P17.

Mark Webber used the medium sets successfully in Q3 to take P4. He was only 0.928 seconds slower than his Red Bull team-mate, but crucially 0.8 seconds and four positions ahead of next-best medium user Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard’s Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa qualified in fifth, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg for Lotus and Sauber respectively.

McLaren used mediums for both its drivers as Sergio Perez and Jenson Button completed the top ten.

There were no surprises in Q2, with the Toro Rossos and Force India lining up on rows six and seven, ahead of Valtteri Bottas’s Williams and the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez.

Pastor Maldonado joined Grosjean among the Q1 departures, and was only 0.128 seconds clear of Jules Bianchi’s Marussia and 0.265 seconds ahead of Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham.

So a dominant qualifying performance by the defending world champion. His third successive pole at the indian Grand Prix and he is looking very strong in the race judging by the speed in the RB9. Vettel just needs to finish fifth or higher to become world champion.

Qualifying positions for the Indian Grand Prix:

1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m24.119s
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m24.871s
3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m24.941s
4. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m25.047s
5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m25.201s
6. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m25.248s
7. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m25.334s
8. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m25.826s
9. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m26.153s
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m26.487s
11. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m25.519s
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m25.711s
13. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m25.740s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m25.798s
15. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m26.134s
16. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m26.336s
17. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m26.577s
18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m26.842s
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.970s
20. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m27.105s
21. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m27.487s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m28.138s

107 per cent time: 1m31.564s

Sebastian Vettel is on the verge of taking this season’s world championship following his fifth consecutive victory, as different race strategies produced a thrilling contest to a three-way battle for Japanese Grand Prix honours at Suzuka.

Polesitter Mark Webber passed Romain Grosjean in the final stages of the race to secure a Red Bull Racing one-two, but was seven seconds adrift of denying Vettel and securing what would have been a first victory of his farewell Formula 1 campaign.

As for Fernando Alonso, he recovered well from eighth to keep the championship alive. Vettel will have to wait until India to be crowned a four-time champion.

It was Grosjean’s Lotus that captured the lead at the start, jumping from fourth on the grid as both Red Bulls got away poorly.

The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton also got the jump on the Red Bulls, but as he squeezed in between the RB9s he and Vettel made light contact, which punctured Hamilton’s rear right and causing floor damage which would ultimately lead to his retirement after just nine laps.

In the background, Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi collided at Turn 1. Both retiring in the gravel trap.

For the first half of the Japanese Grand Prix Grosjean was able to maintain his advantage over Webber and Vettel, with the trio easing away from a chasing pack led by Nico Rosberg and the Scuderia of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

The group lost massive time through the first round of pit-stops when Daniel Ricciardo, who started on the hard compound and ran a deep first stint, managed to jump into fourth and hold a string of quicker cars at bay for several laps.

It was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg – who jumped the Ferraris through the first round of stops – who eventually managed to break Ricciardo’s resistance, but by then the top trio were 27 seconds down the road and out of touch.

That allowed Vettel, Grosjean and Webber to adopt different strategies, with the latter opting for a three-stop route in contrast to the two-stops of Vettel and Grosjean.

Webber therefore held track position heading into the final ten laps, while Vettel was able to go far deeper than Grosjean in his middle stint, and therefore had much fresher set of tyres on which to close a two-second gap to the Lotus driver.

The crucial pass came on lap 41 when Vettel attacked at Casio chicane and then dived down Grosjean’s inside at Turn 1 for second thanks to DRS.

With Webber pitting one lap later, Vettel duly hit the front and was able to cruise home to extend his winning form.

That he did so owed much to Grosjean however, whose spirited defence kept Webber – now on the option tyre for a final ten lap charge – at bay until the final laps, when Webber picked him off at Turn 1 to grab second.

Behind, Alonso executed a great pass around the outside of Hulkenberg heading into Turn 1 to clinch fourth and keep the title race technically open.

Kimi Raikkonen also picked off Hulkenberg’s Sauber to seal fifth position ahead of the German.

Esteban Gutierrez held on to deny Rosberg in a fight for seventh, while Jenson Button and Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten at Suzuka.

Massa also had to fight back from a drive-through for speeding in the pitlane, although his cause was also aided when Sergio Perez and Rosberg collided while fighting for tenth, sending the former to the pits with damage.

Paul di Resta beat Jean-Eric Vergne to P11, while a third drive-through – this time for Ricciardo after he went off-track passing di Resta at 130R – meant the Australian was restricted to P13 ahead of Adrian Sutil, Perez and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel’s fourth win in Japan brings him to 297 points in the standings to Alonso’s 207, which means he can clinch the title at the next round in India by finishing fifth or higher, regardless of what the Spaniard does. Raikkonen pulled further away from Hamilton in third place with 177 to 161, while Webber is moving back into contention with them on 148.

The result gave Red Bull another 43 points, bringing their total to 445. Ferrari’s run pulled them further ahead of Mercedes, the gap going out to 10 points with 297 to 287, while Lotus are back in the fight for second place with 264. Much further back McLaren have 83 to Force India’s 62.

Japanese Grand Prix race results after 53 laps

1.  Sebatian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault        1h37.410s
2.  Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault            +7.129s
3.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault               +9.910s
4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                    +45.605s
5.  Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +47.325s
6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Sauber-Ferrari             +51.615s
7.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari           +1m11.630s
8.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                 +1m12.023s
9.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes         +1m20.821s
10.  Felipe Massa       Ferrari                  +1m29.263s
11.  Paul di Resta      Force India-Mercedes     +1m38.572s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13.  Daniel Ricciardo   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
14.  Adrian Sutil       Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
15.  Sergio Perez       McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
16.  Pastor Maldonado   Williams-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Charlies Pic       Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap

Fastest lap: Mark Webber, 1m34.587s

Not classified/retirements:

Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes                 9 laps
Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault         0 laps
Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth        0 laps

World Championship standings, round 15:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        297
2.  Alonso        207
3.  Raikkonen     177
4.  Hamilton      151
5.  Webber        148
6.  Rosberg       126
7.  Massa          90
8.  Grosjean       87
9.  Button         60
10.  Hulkenberg     49
11.  Di Resta       36
12.  Sutil          26
13.  Perez          23
14.  Ricciardo      18
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Gutierrez       6
17.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          445
2.  Ferrari                   297
3.  Mercedes                  277
4.  Lotus-Renault             264
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           83
6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             55
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Indian Grand Prix, Buddh International Circuit. October 25-27.

Mark Webber ended his Red Bull Racing’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s qualifying supremacy by beating the champion-elect to pole position at Suzuka.

Vettel was handicap with a loss of KERS on his first Q3 run and was four tenths of a second adrift from his Australian’s provisional pole.

His KERS was restarted but his second run was not enough good enough to beat Webber, who then improved his pole position time to one minute, 30.915 seconds.

This result meant not only was this is his first pole of the season, he also out-qualified Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton will start the Japanese Grand Prix in third, winning the tight qualifying battle from Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa.

As for his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, he was 0.144 seconds slower and will line up sixth on the grid.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was only eighth quickest, three tenths of a second off Massa and pushed back a further position by a flying Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber.

Alonso will face an uphill battle if his championship rival wins the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday so getting a good start will be key to his race.

Yet again, Kimi Raikkonen struggled for qualifying speed in the Lotus, lapping 0.319s slower than Grosjean as he ended up five positions adrift.

While McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded off the top ten at Suzuka.

The Q2 session was extraordinarily close, with barely half a second covering P2 to P14.

Sergio Perez ended up on the wrong end of the cut-off in eleventh and yet ahead of Paul di Resta.

The Force India driver had a much better qualifying session than his team-mate Adrian Sutil, who picked up a gearbox-change penalty following his FP3 crash and then struggled for speed. P17 was the end result.

The main action in Q1 was a bizarre fire on both the rear brakes of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso. The Frenchman had to park on the exit of the hairpin and the session was briefly red-flagged so that the track marshals could deal with the fire safely.

That left Vergne in P18, while his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo could only managed two places higher as he trailed the Q2 pack.

Those dramas helped Williams to an encouraging P13 and P15, Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado respectively.

They were split by Esteban Gutierrez, whose Sauber caught fire in the pit garage halfway through Q1. There was no damage and he was able to continue qualifying.

Marussia’s Max Chilton produced the best qualifying performance of his Formula 1 career so far to beat the Caterhams and his team-mate Jules Bianchi to P19.

Both Charles Pic and Bianchi will serve a ten-place grid penalties following incidents in last weekend’s Korean Grand Prix. The pair will share the back row.

So a fantastic lap by Mark Webber. His twelfth in Formula 1 and crucially ahead of his Red Bull Racing team-mate. Can Sebastian Vettel win the title on race day? He needs to overtake the pole sitter and hope that Fernando Alonso finishes outside the top eight. It’s going to be a fascinating Japanese Grand Prix.

Qualifying positions at Suzuka:

1. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m30.915s
2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m31.089s
3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m31.253s
4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m31.365s
5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m31.378s
6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m31.397s
7. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m31.644s
8. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m31.665s
9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m31.684s
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.827s
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.989s
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m31.992s
13. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m32.013s
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m32.063s
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m32.093s
16. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m32.485s
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.357s
18. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.320s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m34.879s
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m34.556s*
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.958s*
22. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m32.890s**

107 per cent time: 1m38.251s

*Ten-place penalty for incurring three reprimands during the season
**Five-place penalty for gearbox change

Sebastian Vettel is heading towards his fourth world championship after taking his 34th career victory in a race featuring some spectacular racing and bizarre incidents.

The Red Bull Racing driver was joined on the podium by Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen – charging forward from tenth on the grid – and Romain Grosjean.

As Vettel stormed away into the lead at the start, Grosjean passed Lewis Hamilton for second into Turn 3.

In their wake, a late-braking move from Felipe Massa ended with the Ferrari spinning across the corner apex and scattering the pack behind. Everyone avoided Massa, but Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil picked up wing damage in the chaos.

The first half of the race featured Vettel pulling away from a closely-matched Grosjean and Hamilton, with Nico Rosberg behind and then Nico Hulkenberg fending off Fernando Alonso and a pack of cars.

Raikkonen jumped ahead of this pack after making his second pitstop earlier than his rivals.

Further up, Hamilton began to suffer extreme tyre degradation in his second stint and tumbled away from Grosjean towards Rosberg – only for the German’s front wing to partially fail in a shower of sparks as he overtook his struggling team-mate.

With both Mercedes delayed, Raikkonen gained two more positions, just before the first safety car when Sergio Perez’s right-front tyre dramatically blew on the long straight.

Mark Webber, who had made good progress from P13, was immediately behind and picked up a puncture from the resultant debris.

With the McLaren’s tyre carcass in the middle of the straight, a safety car was required.

Vettel stayed clear of the Lotus pair at the restart, with Raikkonen passing Grosjean with a spectacular Turn 1 move a lap later.

Another safety car was imminent, though. Sutil had spun into Turn 3 on the restart lap and hit Webber, causing the Red Bull to catch fire in the run-off area.

A fire vehicle eventually appeared on track to deal with the blazing car, forcing a frantic safety car deployment as the leaders caught sight of the fire truck.

After that mess was resolved, the race ran green to the chequered flag, with Vettel edging away from Raikkonen and Grosjean to win.

Behind them, an impressive performance from Hulkenberg earned him and Sauber fourth position. He had pounced on Hamilton at a restart to take the spot, and then clung on under huge pressure from the Mercedes and Alonso’s Ferrari, who were having a thrilling wheel-to-wheel scrap of their own.

Rosberg joined this battle by the end, followed by Button, Massa and Perez, who just denied the Mexican’s countryman Esteban Gutierrez by a single point.

Williams ran in the top ten for a while after a brilliant first lap from Pastor Maldonado, but the Venezuelan ultimately fell to P13 behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Paul di Resta crashed his Force India and both Toro Rossos also retired, Daniel Ricciardo having got as high as seventh in the first stint.

So an eventful Korean Grand Prix featuring sparks, tyre blow-out and an appearance from a Jeep fire truck. And yet, the end result is that Sebastian Vettel has increased his lead in the championship with his eighth victory in the sport.

Which means, the Red Bull driver will become world champion next weekend at Suzuka, one of his favourite circuits. Can Fernando Alonso stop him? We shall find out in seven days time at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Korean Grand Prix, race results after 55 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           1h43:13.701
2.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +4.224
3.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +4.927
4.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari             +24.114
5.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +25.255
6.  Alonso         Ferrari                    +26.189
7.  Rosberg        Mercedes                   +26.698
8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +32.262
9.  Massa          Ferrari                    +34.390
10.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +35.155
11.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari             +35.990
12.  Bottas         Williams-Renault           +47.049
13.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault           +50.013
14.  Pic            Caterham-Renault           +1:03.578
15.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault           +1:04.501
16.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +1:07.970
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1:12.898
18.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +2 laps
19.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +3 laps
20.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +5 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:41.380

Not classified/retirements:

Webber         Red Bull-Renault             41 laps
Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes         29 laps

World Championship standings, round 15:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        272
2.  Alonso        195
3.  Raikkonen     167
4.  Hamilton      161
5.  Webber        130
6.  Rosberg       122
7.  Massa          89
8.  Grosjean       72
9.  Button         58
10.  Hulkenberg     31
11.  Di Resta       36
12.  Sutil          26
13.  Perez          23
14.  Ricciardo      18
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          402
2.  Ferrari                   284
3.  Mercedes                  283
4.  Lotus-Renault             239
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           81
6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             31
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. October 11-13.

Sebastian Vettel achieved his third successive Formula 1 pole position as he beats Lewis Hamilton in Yeongam.

Heading into qualifying, Mercedes seemed to have the pace to challenge Red Bull and yet the championship leader’s initial Q3 lap of one minute, 37.202 seconds put him 0.308 seconds clear of Hamilton.

Webber recorded the third quickest time but will drop down to P13 following his 10-place grid penalty for accumulating three driving reprimands.

Although Hamilton was able to get ahead of the Australian on his final pole shot, he was still 0.218 seconds adrift of Vettel, who was able to back off his own last lap, confident pole was secure.

With the grid penalty applied to Webber, Romain Grosjean will move up to third. The Lotus driver did a great job in qualifying to outpace the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and the Ferrari pair of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

As for his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn could only manage tenth, 1.3 seconds slower.

For the first time this year, Sauber managed to get both cars into Q3, with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez eighth and ninth fastest.

Sauber’s qualifying breakthrough came at McLaren’s expense however.

Despite encouraging performance in practice, both Sergio Perez and Jenson Button will start the Korean Grand Prix in P11 and P12, missing out in Q3 by 0.035 seconds and 0.038 seconds respectively.

The Toro Rossos and Force Indias were also eliminated in Q2, while neither Williams made it beyond Q1, although Valtteri Bottas could at least be pleased to outqualify his team-mate Pastor Maldonado by 0.5 seconds.

Charles Pic squeezed ahead of Caterham team-mate Giedo van der Garde by 0.007 seconds to lead the battle at the back of the grid.

So a fantastic result for Sebastian Vettel. His 42nd career pole position in the sport and his sixth this season. Can he win the race on Sunday and inch closer towards sealing the championship? Or will Lewis Hamilton give the young German a run for his money? We shall find out on race day.

Qualifying times from Yeongam:

1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m37.202s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m37.420s
3. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m37.531s
4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m37.679s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m38.038s
6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m38.223s
7. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.237s
8. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.405s
9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m38.822s
10. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.362s
11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.365s
12. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.417s
13. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m37.464s*
14. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m38.431s
15. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m38.718s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.781s
17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m39.470s
18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m39.987s
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m40.864s
20. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m40.871s
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.169s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.322s

107% time: 1m45.224s

*Ten-place grid penalty for accumulating three driving reprimands.

Sebastian Vettel achieved one of his most dominant performances of the season with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The championship leader left the rest of the field to entertain themselves, as differing pit tactics following a mid-race safety car shuffled the distant chasing pack.

In the end it was Fernando Alonso who came through yet again to give Ferrari second place, while Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off his back problem to turn P13 on the grid into an impressive third position.

Mercedes gained fourth and fifth for Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton respectively. As for Mark Webber, his Red Bull grounded to a halt on the final lap in flames.

Rosberg did his best to make a race of it at the start as he edged ahead of pole sitter Vettel and outbraked him into Turn 1.

But the Mercedes ran slightly wide and Vettel was able to get back his lost lead, with Rosberg’s retaliation attempt on the outside of Turn 3 failing to come off.

Vettel was not going to take any more chances and began pulling away from Rosberg and the rest, leading by six seconds after as many laps.

Alonso made another amazing start, but it was his late-braking move down the outside into the Turn 1, which gained him the most ground, as he surged into third position.

Up front, Vettel was not only able to outpace the pack with ease, but could also make his tyres last longer.

Rosberg’s second place became a little more secure when Alonso emerged from his first pitstop behind Paul di Resta’s yet-to-stop Force India, which would stay in front for six laps.

That delay would have halted Alonso’s chances of making further progress had Daniel Ricciardo not crashed his Toro Rosso and prompted a long safety car period just before half-distance.

Most of the frontrunners, led by Alonso, came in for tyres, while Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton stayed out.

As it turned out, most of those who had stopped could make their tyres last the rest of the race.

While this was no problem for Vettel, who pulled away at such a ferocious rate he could easily pit again and stay ahead, the other three tumbled into the midfield traffic when they had to come in again in the final part of the race.

That promoted Alonso to second, ahead of Jenson Button and Raikkonen.

The Ferrari pulled well clear of the McLaren and Lotus, which engaged in an increasingly spectacular battle as Button’s tyres faded.

With seven laps to go, Raikkonen pulled off a brilliant move around the outside of Button to deny McLaren a podium and get himself into third from P13 on the grid.

Webber had jumped Rosberg in the final stops. The Australian then led the two Mercedes as they hacked back through the field, overtaking the Saubers and McLarens and setting their sights on the podium.

Alonso and Raikkonen were always likely to be out of reach though, and then Red Bull ordered Webber to back off following a growing technical problem in the final laps.

He was powerless to prevent the Silver Arrows powering pass and his car then came to a stand with an apparent engine failure with half a lap of the race to go.

Felipe Massa had to make three pitstops and finished sixth, ahead of a train of tyre-troubled cars in Button, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, chased by three-stopper Adrian Sutil.

Di Resta crashed out late on, while qualifying star Esteban Gutierrez fell back to P12 behind Pastor Maldonado as his tyres faded.

So, a superb performance by the world champion. His third consecutive win at Marina Bay and now 60 points clear of his rival. Just six races left and Vettel is looking the favourite to scored his fourth title.

Singapore Race results after 61 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault   1:59:13.132
2.  Alonso         Ferrari             +32.627
3.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault       +43.920
4.  Rosberg        Mercedes           +51.155
5.  Hamilton       Mercedes            +53.159
6.  Massa          Ferrari        +1:03.677
7.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        +1:23.354
8.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes         +1:23.820
9.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari           +1:24.261
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +1:24.668
11.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault        +1:28.479
12.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari            +1:37.894
13.  Bottas         Williams-Renault          +1:45.161
14.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari       +1:53.512
15.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        +1 lap
16.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault        +1 lap
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth        +1 lap
18.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth        +1 lap
19.  Pic            Caterham-Renault         +1 lap

Not classified/retirments:

Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes    54 laps
Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           37 laps
Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      23 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel 1:48.574 on lap 46

World Championship standings, round 13:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        247
2.  Alonso        187
3.  Hamilton      151
4.  Raikkonen     149
5.  Webber        130
6.  Rosberg       116
7.  Massa          87
8.  Grosjean       57
9.  Button         54
10.  Di Resta       36
11.  Sutil          26
12.  Perez          22
13.  Hulkenberg     19
14.  Ricciardo      18
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          377
2.  Ferrari                   274
3.  Mercedes                  267
4.  Lotus-Renault             206
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           76
6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
8.  Sauber-Ferrari             19
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Korean Grand Prix, Yeongam. October 4-6.

Sebastian Vettel achieved his fifth pole position of the season with a supreme performance in qualifying around the Marina Bay street circuit.

The Red Bull Racing driver opted to do just a single Q3 run as his initial one minute, 42.841 seconds lap put him six tenths clear over his rivals. The triple world champion had also outpaced the pack by nearly a second in Q2.

Vettel’s casual approach to the top ten shootout almost proved costly, as first Mark Webber, then Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean all hinted at the top spot pace on their second attempt.

In the end, they all fell short. Rosberg’s Mercedes came closest, just 0.091 seconds down on Vettel, who is separated from team-mate Webber by Grosjean’s Lotus.

Lewis Hamilton was only fifth for Mercedes, while the Ferraris were down in sixth and seventh, with the departing Felipe Massa ahead of team number one Fernando Alonso again.

Massa had earlier only just made it beyond Q1 having encountered traffic at the wrong moment.

It emerged just before qualifying that Kimi Raikkonen was struggling with back pain and that Lotus had been sufficiently concerned to get reserve driver Davide Valsecchi prepared.

The Iceman only managed to qualify P13, lapping 0.7 seconds slower than team-mate Grosjean in Q2. It will be interesting if Raikkonen continues to take part despite his bad back.

Esteban Gutierrez was among the stars of qualifying as he put aside recent Saturday woes to reach Q3 for the first time. He was nearly knocked out in Q1 until a last-gasp effort was enough to get through.

As for his Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, he was completely overshadowed for once and will line up P11 on the Singapore Grand Prix grid.

Sauber was not the only team to have one driver either side of the Q2/Q3 divide.

Jenson Button sneaked into the top ten for McLaren by just 0.058 seconds and took eighth, while the under-pressure Sergio Perez was down in P14.

Jean-Eric Vergne was within 0.091 seconds of joining Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in Q3 but will start P12, three places behind the Australian.

Gutierrez and Massa’s late laps in Q1 caught out Paul di Resta, who was already in the pits and was pushed back to P17. Team-mate Adrian Sutil only managed two positions higher.

Pastor Malonado was also knocked out in Q1, though Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas made it to Q2.

Caterham was again quicker than Marussia, Charles Pic coming out in front among the tail-end pack.

So, a dominant performance by the triple world champion. Just one flying lap to take pole position and a nervous wait for his rivals to beat him. No one came close to Vettel and it was fascinating if he can keep up this winning speed into Sunday’s race.

Qualifying positions for the Singapore Grand Prix:

1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m42.841s
2.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m42.932s
3.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m43.058s
4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m43.152s
5.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m43.254s
6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m43.890s
7.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m43.938s
8.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.282s
9.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.439s
10.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        No time set
11.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m44.555s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.588s
13.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m44.658s
14.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.752s
15.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m45.185s
16.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m45.388s
17.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m46.121s
18.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m46.619s
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m48.111s
20.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m48.320s
21.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m48.830s
22.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m48.930s

107 per cent time: 1m51.489s