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Vettel wins again at the Korean Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel proved that there is never a time to let up, even if you have already clinched the World's Driving Championship as he won The Grand Prix of Korea with time to spare as behind him a battle royal raged between teammate Mark Webber and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel started from outside of the front row with Hamilton on the pole. By the end of the first lap Vettel had taken Hamilton's place at the top of the running order and never looked back.
“I knew overtaking Lewis near the start would be difficult and I nearly went off under braking," said Vettel after the race, "but he was very fair and it was important for us to get track position. Then I wasn’t too comfortable, there was a lot of head wind and it was difficult to get away. I could see the car behind getting bigger in the mirrors and it was tough to break the tow, but we did it. We had a chance to win today and we took it.”
After being passed by Vettel Hamilton quickly became embroiled in a race-long battle for second with Webber who was quicker than expected on his soft compound tires in the second stint. Hamilton, who had taken on a second set of supersofts, found himself unable to pull away.
Hamilton eventually prevailed commenting after the race, “Mark was pushing… we were both pushing massively quick, as hard as we could. For some reason the car got worse and worse, in terms of the front end of the car. The rear of the car was fine but I was having more and more lock throughout the race and I had all the front wing I could possibly have on the car, which is unusual. Nonetheless, we managed to stay ahead of him, but it was a serious battle."
Hamilton needed a good run after enduring some tough races recently, and after his driving style came in for some criticism following a series of collisions with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. The McLaren driver dismissed any suggestion that it would restore battered confidence, however.
“Well, I would never question my belief in myself, so that’s not really something that needs doing,” he said. “I have got the trust and the confidence from the team so it is really just about trying to stay out of trouble, stay out of the stewards’ office and just keep my head down and hope for better results.”
Webber, starting fourth spent most of the race staring very closely at the back of a McLaren rear wing. Despite the best efforts of driver and team, it wasn't to be and Hamilton took second place.
After the race, Webber said: “The battle with Lewis was pretty intense. I was frustrated that we followed him out of the pit lane, so I risked quite a bit to try and pass him on the out lap, before he got settled in. It’s not easy to pass a driver of Lewis’ caliber. I tried some moves and it was a good battle as our cars had weaknesses and strengths in different areas of the lap, so trying to get the move done wasn't particularly easy. I enjoyed it, but I would have liked to have got that extra position, which I think performance-wise we deserved.”
Jensen button finished fourth after a poor start where he lost several positions after letting the Ferrari of Felipe Massa get underneath him at the start of the race.
“I don’t think I could have done much more than fourth today." said Jensen, "I struggled to get rid of my understeer throughout the whole race, so fourth was a fair reflection of what the car was capable of today."
Rounding out the top six Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso started the race from fifth and sixth on the grid respectively and they finished it in the reverse order, the Spaniard ahead of the Brazilian.
Click here for Official Finishing Order
10/16/11
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