Sebastien Vettel has won his third consecutive race in 2013 this weekend at Korea, after front tyre graining dominated the team radio talk between the drivers and the engineers. All of the drivers started on the Supersoft tyre, apart from Daniel Riccardo, who started from 12th on a set of new Medium tyres. As we predicted, the higher track temperature allowed for the Medium tyre to be the better race tyre than the Supersoft, within the first five laps, as Jenson Button proved by lighting up the timing screens after he pitted due to damaged sustained on the first lap. That prompted a lot of drivers to pit for the Mediums around lap 12 to 13. That allowed Riccardo to get as high as P4, before dropping off the top five just before lap 18 when he pitted for a new set of Mediums. The pace was being well maintained by Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton towards Vettel in the middle stint, with the gap consistently three seconds. Their pitstops also worked out well for them, which is another thing that enabled them to stay on the back of Vettel. Nico Hulkenberg also found himself in a good position after the start, and now in a race-long battle with Fernando Alonso. Both Hulkenberg and Alonso were on the Medium tyre, but their teams were still concerned about the front tyre degradation. Their battling didn't help Alonso close the gap to Vettel. He clearly had the faster car in the middle and third sector, but it was the first sector that Hulkenberg had the edge, where the crucial DRS zones were placed. Alonso lost twenty seconds to Vettel in the middle stint stuck behind Hulkenberg, with both Raikkonen and Webber catching up to and eventually overtaking him when Hulkenberg pitted for the second time. Back up front, and Rosberg found himself in P4 after jumping the Hulkenberg/Alonso battle in the first pitstop phase. Hamilton was also starting to drop off the Grosjean/Vettel pace, as his Medium tyres started to cry "Enough!" Rosberg however, decided to light up a fireworks display. In a rather bizarre incident, his top front wing bolts broke off, causing it to drag along the track and spark, as the bottom bolts kept it connected. He had to pit immediately, which stopped Hamilton from pitting on that lap. Whilst that was going on, Perez was also in a similar position to Hamilton, however he took his tyres a lap too far and caused a catastrophic failure of the front right tyre, as he went down the back straight. That brought out the safety car, allowing Grosjean and Vettel to pit without loosing track position. It also allowed Daniel Riccardo to pit for his final set of tyres in the form of the Supersoft, and at the restart he found himself in the top ten. Raikkonen also made up some spots in the pitstop phase, and Hamilton managed to stay ahead of Hulkenberg. However, Hulkenberg passed Hamilton on the restart, and the race-long defensive driving started for Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, Raikkonen was looking good behind Grosjean, and before the second safety car came out, he just managed to overtake him into turn one. Once we restarted again, Riccardo dropped out after looking at a finish in P9. That meant the battle for P10 was on between Maldonado, Gutierrez, Perez, and Massa. Maldonado's tyres had hit the cliff, and Gutierrez wanted 10th place. It was a good scrap between the drivers, who didn't leave each other an inch. But it was Felipe Massa who picked up the pieces alongside Perez, after the inexperienced Gutterez wasn't able to defend, whilst Maldonado was left defenceless. The battle for fourth place was still on with three laps go, but Hulkenberg ultimately was able to hang on with his car setup to have the advantage in the crucial parts of the track. Sebastien Vettel was also able to take fastest lap and the win at Korea, which is his third consecutive one in 2013. But its Nico Hulkenberg who gets my driver of the day award, and my pick for Lotus' second driver in 2014. Staying calm and composed with Hamilton and Alonso on his gearbox, and being able to think about where he had the advantage on them, is for me the makings of a driver that drove a top-class race, and deserves to have a driver with a top-class team in 2014.
