Building towards his fourth-straight World Championship, Sebastian Vettel was the man with a target on his back going into Sunday’s controversial Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver forged ahead to take his fourth win in as many races to give himself a comfortable lead in the championship with just five races remaining.

Vettel took full advantage of his pole position to pull away from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean (Lotus) off the start. An early spin by Felipe Massa (Ferrari) in turn three disrupted much of the back half of the field, and saw him narrowly avoid taking his teammate Fernando Alonso out of the race.

Vettel continued to lead, but the new long-wheelbase Lotus of Grosjean showed surprising pace, keeping the three-time champion from extending his gap.

In the other Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen was climbing through the field after starting from ninth. On lap eight he was breathing down the neck of future Ferrari teammate Alonso for sixth place. The Ferraris had been struggling on the Pirelli tires all weekend, and Raikkonen took the position and never looked back.

The anti-clockwise circuit seemed to challenge the Pirelli tires. There was evident graining on the front right tires of numerous cars, and McLaren’s Sergio Perez suffered a dangerous delamination that saw his tire explode on lap 31, dropping him back in the field before finishing 10th.

Vettel dove into the pits immediately for a fresh set of tires as the safety car was deployed, allowing him to retain his lead over Grosjean and Raikkonen, who moved up to third.

The race went green on lap 37, but it wasn’t long before Adrian Sutil’s Force India hit the side of Mark Webber’s Red Bull under the tightened field. Webber’s car caught fire and suffered heavy damage.

The front portion of the field continued racing before the safety car was recalled, and Raikkonen made a daring pass into turn one on Grosjean for second position.

But the field was met with a surprise around the corner, as a marshal’s van was deployed prior to the safety car to attend to the fire. The safety car was released behind the field before speeding to the front.

When the race returned to green on lap 41, Raikkonen did his best to keep Vettel within range, but Vettel continued to build on the gap, logging leads of 1.4, 1.9, then 2.5 seconds over the Fin.

The German driver ultimately took victory by 4.2 seconds in what has been rumoured to be the last Korean Formula One race, despite its inclusion on the 2014 provisional calendar.

The win puts Vettel in front of Alonso by 77 points in the championship. Raikkonen sits in third, 105 points back. Despite Mark Webber’s DNF, Red Bull still extended its lead in the championship. They sit first with 402 points, followed by Ferrari (282) and Mercedes (283). The series travels to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix next week.

RESULTS

Photos: LAT