Vettel leapfrogs Alonso in standings

A peerless Sebastian Vettel leapfrogged Fernando Alonso at the top of the world championship on Sunday as the Red Bull driver led from the first corner to win the Korean Grand Prix.

With four races to go starting in India in two weeks, Vettel, the reigning champion who is chasing a third drivers’ title in a row, sits atop the standings with 215 points. Alonso, who finished third, is on 209.

It was the 25-year-old German’s third win in three races and he will now be favourite to retain his crown, in what had been a highly unpredictable season until he took the championship by the scruff of the neck.

Second at a cool but sunny Yeongam was Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber, who started on pole. It was the first Red Bull one-two of the season.

Alonso’s fellow Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, second at Suzuka seven days ago, continued his resurgence with a fourth-placed finish.

Lewis Hamilton, who still had title aspirations going into this Grand Prix, finished down in 10th.

It now looks increasingly like a two-horse race for the title. Hamilton and his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who was shunted out moments after the start of the race, admitted they were out of contention.

Fifth was Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, followed by Nico Hulkenberg in a Force India. Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo (both Toro Rosso) and Hamilton rounded out the top 10.

“Very pleased. Fantastic, I'm very happy,” Vettel told the crowd, having celebrated his 25th career victory by jumping on top of his Red Bull with his arms aloft. “It was a fantastic race.

Alonso, also a double world champion, put a brave face on losing his lead in the standings. “I think we have to be happy with the performance today, we finished third and fourth, just behind Red Bull, that at the moment are difficult to beat,” he said.

Vettel, who started second on the grid behind Webber, nipped in front of his team-mate at the first corner. Behind them Alonso and Hamilton duelled over third place, with the Spaniard winning through.

Button’s bad weekend finished almost as soon as the race began. His fine start from lowly 11th was wrecked when Kamui Kobayashi came flying down the inside, smashing into Button and destroying his suspension.

“I've just been hit by Kobayashi. What an idiot!” the McLaren driver and 2009 world champion exclaimed over the team radio.

Also out, not long afterwards, was Nico Rosberg, who retired his Mercedes because of the same incident. The Sauber driver Kobayashi, third last week in his native Japan, was forced into the pits.

He was then landed with a drive-through penalty for causing the early carnage and bowed out soon afterwards when Sauber decided that the damage to his car was too extensive. Kobayashi later apologised to Button and Rosberg.

Third in the championship is Raikkonen, on 167 points, followed by Hamilton (153), Webber (152) and Button (131).

Hulkenberg’s eight points, with a sixth place finish, Force India reduce the gap with close rival and sixth-placed Sauber to 27 points as the none of the Swiss team’s driver finished inside the top-10.

“That race was a lot of fun and it’s great to get such a mega result. It wasn’t easy though, and for most of the race I had the Lotus of Romain [Grosjean] pushing me and some great battles,” 

Hulkenberg said. “I was just told by the team that we had a rear-suspension failure, but it was safe to drive so they kept me going,” said former world champion Hamilton, who also had some artificial turf caught under his car for the last portion of the race.

“It was tricky to even keep 10th place,” he added, conceding that failure to make the podium in the last three races had cost him a shot at another world title in his final season at McLaren before he moves to Mercedes.

The results: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1:36:28.651 secs, 2. Mark Webber (Red Bull) + 8.231s, 3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) + 13.944, 4. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) + 20.168, 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) + 36.739, 6. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) + 45.301, 7. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) + 54.812, 8. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) + 1:09.589, 9. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) + 1:11.787, 10. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) + 1:19.692, 11. Sergio Perez (Sauber) + 1:20.062, 12. Paul di Resta (Force India) + 1:24.448, 13. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) + 1:29.241, 14. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) + 1:34.924, 15. Bruno Senna (Williams) + 1:36.902, 16. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham) + 1 lap, 17. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) + 1 lap, 18. Timo Glock (Marussia) + 1 lap, 19. Charles Pic (Marussia) + 2 laps, 20. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT) + 2 laps.

Retirements: Jenson Button (McLaren), 1st lap; Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 2nd lap; Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) 17th lap; Pedro de la Rosa (HRT) 17th lap.

Overall standings: Drivers: 1. Vettel 215 points, 2. Alonso 209, 3. Raikkonen 167, 4. Hamilton 153, 5. Webber 152, 6. Button 131, 7. Rosberg 93, 8. Grosjean 88, 9. Massa 81, 10. Perez 66, 11. Kobayashi 50, 12. Hulkenberg 45, 13. di Resta 44, 14. Schumacher 43, 15. Maldonado 33, 16. Senna 25, 17. Vergne 12, 18. Ricciardo 9.

Constructors: 1. Red Bull 367 points, 2. Ferrari 290, 3. McLaren 284, 4. Lotus 255, 5. Mercedes 136, 6. Sauber 116, 7. Force India 89, 8. Williams 58, 9. Toro Rosso 21.

Akhil records fastest lap; claims second place

After being away from racing for a year, India’s Akhil Khushlani made a fantastic comeback by claiming second place in Round 10 of the JK Racing Asia Series at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.

Driving for US Formula Project, a sister team of Eurointernational, Khushlani started the race sixth on the grid and after a good start, was able to pass fifth placed Irfan Ilyas at the end of the first turn.

From there he pushed ahead and began to make his move on Hiqmar Danial, who by then was in third after being overtaken by Nabil Jeffri after a bad start. Khushlani found a way past Danial on the second last turn at the end of the first lap.

Jeffri was ahead and pushing on to catch up to winner Afiq Ikhwan, but by the end of lap two, Khushlani caught up to the Euro international driver and took him, once again at the second last turn. The Indian driver managed to maintain a good pace, setting the fastest lap on lap 5.

“It feels good. I feel confident now, especially after a bad practice and not such a great qualifying. It feels really nice to be back on the podium. I am happy with myself because I had a year’s gap and I am back on the pace with the fastest lap and going from sixth to second. I can’t ask for anything more,” Akhil said.

“I had a very good start. I gained one position by the end of the first corner and I saw the others making mistakes and took advantage of it. I saw opportunities coming so I planned my overtaking accordingly and I played safe, as I did not want a DNF.

“This result is probably the best way to make a comeback.

I can’t ask for anything more. Podium and racing at Silverstone, feels really nice and I hope to keep the performance up from now,” he ended.

Afiq Ikhwan has returned to form, making a clean sweep of wins. Ikhwan claimed his second win, once again from pole.

The JK Racing Asia Series will return to Asia for Rounds 11 and 12 scheduled to be held during the Airtel Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit on October 26 to 28.

Hamilton cruises to Italian GP victory

Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix from pole for McLaren on Sunday while championship leader Fernando Alonso finished third for hosts Ferrari amid plenty of drama from 10th on the grid.

Alonso got ahead of title holder Sebastian Vettel after being shoved onto the grass by him -- for which Vettel received a drive-through penalty -- and then unsurprisingly moved ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa in the 40th of 53 laps.

Hamilton won his third season race and the third straight for McLaren in 1 hour 19 minutes 41.221 seconds, ahead of Sauber’s Sergio Perez, up from 12th on the grid, and Alonso.

Vettel had to retire with five laps left over what appeared to be an alternator problem and Jenson Button also didn’t see the finish line for McLaren.

Alonso garnered precious championship points after a car problem denied him a better qualifying the previous day, topping the standings with 179 points from Hamilton (142), Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus (141) and Vettel (140).

Mark Webber has 132 after also having to retire and Button appears out of contention with 101 points a week after winning in Belgium.

Hamilton won the start from pole while Massa got past Button and even tried to attack Hamilton into the first chicane, but he failed to take the lead ahead of the McLarens.

Alonso also wasted no time, surging from 10th to seventh after the first lap, and fifth in the seventh lap after getting ahead of former world champions Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher as well.

Jean-Eric Vergne escaped a scare when his Toro Rosso spun ahead of turn one with what could appeared a car problem, flew across the kerbs and sleeping policemen before landing heavily on the grass.

Vergne complained about “pain in my back” on team radio before the car was lifted away by a crane.

Most drivers then pitted between the 15th and 22nd lap, with Vettel getting out just ahead of Alonso.

The championship leaders then provided major drama in the 26th lap when Alonso tried to overtake on the outside but Vettel gave no way which forced the Ferrari onto grass and Alonso to a furious “that’s enough” via team radio.

Alonso finally moved ahead of the German three laps later and race stewards then punished Vettel with a drive through penalty for “forcing a driver off the track.” That ended the podium ambitions for the 2008 and 2011 Monza winner as Vettel returned in ninth place, and in the same 34th lap Button’s race was ended by a mechanical problem.

Vettel’s agony was complete when he had to stop in the 48th of 53 laps and Webber didn’t see the finish line either, bringing the car back to the pits in the 52nd in a weekend to forget for Red Bull.

Perez, meanwhile, made his one-stop strategy work best, pitting later than all others in the 30th lap and using the fresher tyres to storm past Alonso in the late stages into a second career runner-up finish.

He may have even threatened Hamilton had the race latest a little longer, but the Briton was never under serious threat a week after he and Alonso were taken out in a first-lap crash in Belgium, he made headlines with tweets on car details, and speculation about a move to Mercedes next year.

                                                                                                                                           By  DPA