Vettel wins the Korean GP

Sebastian Vettel is celebrating his third victory in as many races, following a win in the Korean Grand Prix.

This result means that the reigning world champion has jumped ahead of Fernando Alonso in the drivers' championship with 215 and 209 points respectively. Kimi Raikkonen is third with 167 points, while Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber are tied with 153.

Vettel managed to get ahead of pole-sitter Mark Webber in the rundown to the first corner, before fending off attack from the Australian driver into turn three. Webber then held off Alonso, who pulled off a daring move to pass Hamilton, while Vettel set about extending his lead at the front.

Sergio Perez tagged the back of Nico Hulkenberg's car on the start, losing a piece of front wing in the process, but the usual first lap chaos wasn't until turn three.

Kamui Kobayashi crashed into Jenson Button and Nico Robserg, forcing both to retire from the race. The Sauber driver was handed a drive-through penalty and eventually retired on lap 18.

Meanwhile, Vettel had extended the gap at the front, only briefly losing the lead during the first pit stops.

His lap times started to dip towards the closing stages of the race, though, as the team became increasingly worried about tyre wear. Vettel managed the situation well to cross the finish line 8.2 seconds ahead of Webber for a Red Bull one-two.

Fernando Alonso finished third, just ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa in fourth, who had backed off after being told by his race engineer Rob Smedley that he was "a little bit too close to Fernando".

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean. Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo managed eighth and ninth respectively, after a tussle with Pastor Maldonado towards the beginning of the race.

Lewis Hamilton finished 10th despite pressure from the Sauber of Sergio Perez. Hamilton had struggled with handling problems for the majority of the race and then ran wide on lap 53 of 55, picking up a piece of astro-turf on his right sidepod which he carried with him until the end of the race.

With just 100 points available in the four remaining races in India, Abu Dhabi, the USA and Brazil, the season climax is set to be an exciting one. Be sure to check out our Korean Grand Prix gallery in preparation for the India in two weeks.

There is now just 100 points available in the remaining races in India, Abu Dhabi, the USA and Brazil.

2012 Korean Grand Prix results