Vettel adds to F1 points lead with Korean GP win
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Yeongam, South Korea (SportsNetwork.com) - Sebastian Vettel is on the brink of claiming his fourth consecutive Formula One world championship after winning Sunday's Korean Grand Prix.
Vettel prevailed in an incident-filled race that featured the safety car being deployed twice. He also experienced graining problems with his tires. The 26- year German crossed the finish line 4.2 seconds ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen for his fourth straight grand prix victory. Vettel won in Belgium, Italy and Singapore prior to South Korea.
"I'm just loving what I do," Vettel said. "The team is fantastic. I think we all have a good time and just enjoy the moment really."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vettel also won the Korean GP in 2011 and last year.
He has now accumulated 272 points for the season, which is 77 points more than his closest competitor, Fernando Alonso from Ferrari. Alonso finished sixth.
There are five races remaining. If Vettel extends his lead to 125 points or more in next Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, then he will claim his fourth title in a row.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The first deployment of the safety car came on lap 31 after Sergio Perez had a tire come apart on his McLaren, littering the track with debris. When the race resumed on lap 37, Adrian Sutil from Force India spun in turn 3 and collected Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, whose car erupted into flames. The safety car slowed the field again.
"Not great getting stuck behind the safety car," Vettel said. "We had a little bit of a gap. Extremely happy with the result, great job by the team. We had two very good stops. I think it was quite good to have the safety car coming out the first time, since we were just a couple of corners before the pit entry."
While Raikkonen finished second, his teammate, Romain Grosjean, crossed the line in third.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nico Hulkenberg drove his Sauber to a fourth-place finish, while Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes was fifth. Hamilton's teammate, Nico Rosberg, took the seventh spot, followed by McLaren's Jenson Button and Felipe Massa from Ferrari. Perez completed the top-10.
Raikkonen is now 105 points behind Vettel. Hamilton trails by 111 points and Webber 142. It was the second straight race that Webber failed to finish.