Alonso wins, double DNF for Red Bull

In a race that was heavily delayed by rain, erstwhile points leader Mark Webber crashed out on the slippery track early on, and pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel – who had looked secure at the front throughout – fell by the wayside with a spectacular engine failure 10 laps from the end.

The German’s cruel misfortune played perfectly into the hands of Alonso, who had put himself in a position to capitalise by providing Red Bull’s strongest challenge and applying race-long pressure to Vettel.

The blown Renault engine meant that, whereas Vettel looked set to leave Korea with a seven-point championship lead, instead he trails in fourth place and Alonso assumes an 11-point advantage over Webber.

Lewis Hamilton, who had been the most eager of the leading drivers for the race to get underway while officials agonised over the track conditions, drove a strong race to claim second place and keep his title hopes alive.

The McLaren driver now occupies third place in the standings, between the two Red Bull drivers, 21 points adrift of new leader Alonso.

Felipe Massa completed a dream day for Ferrari by taking the final podium position, while Michael Schumacher equalled the best result of his F1 comeback season with fourth in the Mercedes.

Full report to follow…

Korean Grand Prix result - 55 laps

1 ALONSO Ferrari
2 HAMILTON McLaren +14.9s
3 MASSA Ferrari +30.8s
4 SCHUMACHER Mercedes +39.6s
5 KUBICA Renault +47.7s
6 LIUZZI Force India +53.5s
7 BARRICHELLO Williams +69.2s
8 KOBAYASHI Sauber +77.8s
9 HEIDFELD Sauber +80.1s
10 HULKENBERG Williams +80.8s
11 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +84.1s
12 BUTTON McLaren +89.9s
13 KOVALAINEN Lotus +1 lap
14 SENNA HRT +2 laps
15 YAMAMOTO HRT +2 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +9 laps
R. VETTEL Red Bull +10 laps
R. PETROV Renault +16 laps
R. GLOCK Virgin +24 laps
R. BUEMI Toro Rosso +25 laps
R. DI GRASSI Virgin +30 laps
R. TRULLI Lotus +30 laps
R. WEBBER Red Bull +37 laps
R. ROSBERG Mercedes +37 laps

Fastest lap: ALONSO 1m50.257s (lap 42)

Source: itv-f1.com