Vettel charges into F1 lead

Sebastian Vettel leapfrogs Ferrari's Alonso in the championship race as Red Bull achieve season's first one-two finish.

World champion Sebastian Vettel won the Korean Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two finish on Sunday to take the overall Formula One lead from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso with four races remaining.

Vettel's third win in a row, fourth of the season and 25^th of his career, left him on 215 points with third-placed Alonso now on 209.

Australian Mark Webber, who had started on pole position but was overtaken by his team mate off the grid into the first corner, finished second to anchor the first one-two of the season by any team.

‘Perfect start’

South Korea's 'Gangnam Style' rapper Psy waved the chequered flag as Vettel crossed the finish line and thanked his team for a "great race, great job on the pit wall" before screaming in delight.

"The start was very important. we started from the dirty side," said Vettel.

"I had a very good launch and could see that Mark was struggling a little bit. I was able to get side by side and then had the inside into turn one.

"It was a perfect start for myself," added the German, who spent the closing laps fretting about the tyres and making sure they held up.

With no need to attack his title-chasing team mate in the closing stages, Webber finished 8.2 seconds behind Vettel.

Starting fourth, Spaniard Alonso got ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton at the start but could not close the gap with the Red Bulls on an afternoon where the outcome was effectively decided in the first few seconds. He crossed the line 13.9 seconds behind Vettel.

"I think we have to be happy with the performance today," said Alonso, whose Ferrari team (290 points) overtook McLaren (284) for second place in the constructors' standings behind Red Bull (367).