Vettel Completes 10th Win in Korea

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel brooked no argument as he dominated Sunday’s Korean race, snatching the lead from Lewis Hamilton after the polesitter had led into the first corner and thereafter pulling away to a superb 10th seasonal triumph that left him 12s clear by the end.

While Vettel cleared off into the distance, Hamilton drove brilliantly in McLaren’s 700th race to keep a faster Mark Webber for Red Bull at bay as McLaren’s Jenson Button and a charging Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari made it a four-way fight for the runner-up slot. 

Three and a half seconds covered them as they took the flag, with Hamilton less than half a second ahead of Webber after they had indulged several times in some breathtaking side-by-side racing.

The one-three result was sufficient to clinch the constructors’ title for Red Bull, to add to the drivers’ title that Vettel took in Japan.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa had run ahead of Alonso until the final pit stops - which were much less frequent than expected as everyone bar Sauber team mates Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez and HRT’s Tonio Liuzzi only made two apiece - but the Spaniard ran longer and came out ahead of him before launching his blistering charge after Button. 

Massa was thus sixth, well ahead of Jaime Alguersuari who drove a super race for Toro Rosso to catch and pass Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes on the last lap after an earlier attempt had been thwarted.

Behind them, Sebastien Buemi in the second Toro Rosso likewise drove strongly to catch and pass Paul di Resta, the Scot bringing his Force India home 10th for the final point ahead of team mate Adrian Sutil. Rubens Barrichello was the final unlapped runner in 12th for Williams.

Bruno Senna was Renault’s only finisher, a lap down in 13th, after Vitaly Petrov took Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher out in a collision on the 17th lap which brought out the safety car. The incident is still under investigation by the Yeongam stewards.

Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen was the race’s other star, capping an excellent fighting drive by grabbing 14th place from the Saubers on the last lap as Perez suddenly dropped back and was passed by team mate Kobayashi. Kovalainen’s team mate Jarno Trulli was 17th ahead of the Virgins of Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio, which were split by never-say-die Daniel Ricciardo’s HRT.

Ricciardo, however, is also under investigation by the stewards for an unsafe pit-stop release. Tonio Liuzzi in the other Spanish car was 21st and last, after losing a lot of time when a first-lap collision took off his front wing.

The other non-finisher was Pastor Maldonado, who had already lost a lot of ground after getting a drive-through penalty for pitting the wrong side of a bollard.

Vettel’s superb drive brings his points tally to 349, ahead of Button on 222, Alonso on 212, Webber on 209 and Hamilton on 196. In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull are the champions with 558 to McLaren’s 418 and Ferrari’s 310. Behind are Mercedes and Renault on 127 and 72, Force India have 49 to Sauber’s 40 and Toro Rosso’s 37, so that fight for sixth remains tight.

Perfect Vettel made wait for title

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel crushed his opposition to score an easy victory in Singapore on Sunday, despite major late-race pressure from McLaren's Jenson Button, whom he had outrun early on. And it was Button's presence in second place that prevented Vettel from confirming his second consecutive world championship by a mere point. 

To put the title beyond doubt he needed to be 125 points clear, but Button remains a tantalising 124 behind and takes the battle to Japan at the very least.

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher played a key role in the race, but for the wrong reasons. An accident involving him and Sauber's Sergio Perez brought out the safety car on the 29th lap, and that was the first bit of good news that McLaren's Lewis Hamilton had enjoyed all race.

Hamilton's race strategy was compromised from the start after he had lost a set of super-soft tyres to the puncture in the right rear he suffered during the second qualifying session. It meant he had to switch to the less grippy soft compound tyre sooner than his rivals who still had three sets of super-softs.

Vettel blasted into the lead from Button at the start, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso snatching third, but Hamilton's day got worse when he got blocked by Red Bull's Mark Webber and lost places, dropping from fourth to eighth. He climbed quickly to sixth, passing the Mercedes of Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, but a brush with Ferrari's Felipe Massa on Lap 12 damaged his front wing just after they had both stopped for new tyres, and a lap later Hamilton pitted again for a new nose and dropped to 16th. He then received a drive-through penalty for causing a collision, dropping to 19th.

Up front, Vettel owned the race, lock, stock and double barrel, building a lead of 11.4s by the 16th lap after a flurry of fastest laps distanced him from Button, who in turn had dropped Alonso. After losing time behind third placed Force India's Paul di Resta, who moved up temporarily on his harder tyres as faster runners switched to replacements for their soft compounds, the Spaniard was back in third place by Lap 20, but further behind Button than Button was behind Vettel. 

Webber was running three seconds further back, but soon began to challenge Alonso until their second pits stops. Then came the incident on lap 29 that changed the complexion of the race.

Rosberg had overtaken Sauber's Sergio Perez for seventh place on the 28th lap, but got on the marbles in the last corner and Perez pounced again. But Rosberg retaliated and they touched going into the first corner, pushing the Mexican wide. That gave Schumacher the chance to close in, but he then misjudged things and crashed into the back of the Sauber. As the Mercedes crashed head-on into a safety wall, thankfully without injury to Schumacher, Vettel's near-20s lead was neutralised as the safety car was deployed. Schumacher was subsequently reprimanded for the incident.

The safety car's presence triggered a rash of pits stops, and when they were done the order was now Vettel, Button, Alonso, Webber - then Di Resta, Rosberg, Force Indias Adrian Sutil, Perez and Hamilton, who had fought back to ninth and had now been thrown an unexpected lifeline.

When the race went green again on Lap 34 Vettel had lapped cars between him and Button and was still 8.9s ahead of the McLaren driver at the end of the lap, but in a key move Webber removed Alonso's championship hopes by passing the surprised Spaniard, as further back Hamilton moved past Perez for eighth. The McLaren driver then overhauled Sutil, Rosberg and Di Resta. So now it was Vettel, apparently cruising home, Button doing likewise in second, Webber and Alonso, and Hamilton finally stalemated in fifth.

The final stops only temporarily shuffled the order, leaving Hamilton behind Di Resta. He caught and passed him again on Lap 53 to regain fifth, leaving the Scot to take a career-best sixth after another superb drive. Hamilton and Button were flying in the closing stages, the latter slashing Vettel's advantage until he was frustrated by the duelling Williams drivers right at the end, but the spotlight was deservedly focused on Vettel.

In the closing laps there was also a huge fight for seventh, which Rosberg just won from Sutil, as Massa was right with them after snatching ninth from Perez on the last lap. Pastor Maldonado beat Williams team mate Rubens Barrichello, as Sebastien Buemi also slipped ahead of the Brazilian late in the race to take 12th. His Toro Rosso team mate Jaime Alguersuari had a tough race, clashing early on with Kamui Kobayashi, and crashing in the late stages.

Kobayashi was 14th following a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags, ahead of Bruno Senna who had an up and down race for Renault but caught and passed team mate Vitaly Petrov, who was 17th. Renault's day went from bad to worse after the race when they were fined 7,500 Euro for a communication error at the safety-car restart that had led to Senna colliding with Perez, the Brazilian thinking he was battling for position when in fact he was a lap down on the Mexican.

Between the black and gold cars, Heikki Kovalainen was 16th, his Lotus team picking up a 10,000 Euro fine for unsafely releasing him into Vettel's path during their final stops.

Behind Petrov, Jerome D'Ambrosio drove tidily for 18th for Virgin, with Daniel Ricciardo recovering for 19th for HRT after needing a new nose and front wing on the first lap, while team mate Tonio Liuzzi later ran into trouble and dropped back to 20th.

The other Lotus, Jarno Trulli's, joined Schumacher, Alguersuari and early spinner Timo Glock's Virgin on the retirement list, when its gearbox broke.

Bernie Willing to Formula 1 Control

Bernie Ecclestone has suggested he would again be willing to take control of Formula One.

Ecclestone last ruled F1 in 2005, selling out to private equity firm CVC Partners for whom he now serves as chief executive, for US$1.7bn. It is estimated the growing brand of F1 is now potentially worth around five times that figure, yet Ecclestone would appear to be interested.

As the commercial rights holder, Ecclestone already has a large amount of control when it comes to negotiating contracts with circuits and television companies. But it seems the 80-year-old, who shows no sign of slowing down, may yet be willing to take charge again. Asked if he would be interested in buying back F1, Ecclestone was unequivocal in his response – "Yes, absolutely."

There are other interested parties, with rumours still persisting with regard to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in conjunction with one of Europe's leading investment firms Exor. However, Ecclestone maintains no conversation has ever taken place with them with regard to any potential buy-out.

Like that consortium, though, any purchase on his part would have to be at the right price, unsurprising given his reputation as a hardball negotiator.

"I wouldn't buy at the price that I think CVC would sell it," said Ecclestone in the International Herald Tribune. "But I would certainly buy at the price they [News Corporation and Exor] want to pay."

If it is not Ecclestone who eventually returns to running F1, he maintains he does definitely care as to whose hands it falls into come the day any sale does take place. "I care that people that own the company want to own it and run it in the correct manner," he said.

Despite the fact News Corporation and Exor have yet to show their hands, there are stumbling blocks to any deal with both companies.

"[There is] a little bit of a problem with Murdoch because they are more or less on pay-TV," said Ecclestone in relation to the Australian's Sky network. And we have to be, according to the European Union, on free-to-air television. Our agreement with them was that we are everywhere on free-to-air television.

"And the other people [Exor] own Fiat, and the teams don't seem that excited about another team having big control over the regulations, or whatever. So there is a bit of a conflict there."

There have been suggestions that speculation regarding a takeover is a ploy to ramp up the negotiations of the new Concorde Agreement that binds together the teams, the FIA and Ecclestone.

The latest Concorde Agreement is due to come into force in 2013, yet Ecclestone said: "It certainly won't make any difference. The bottom line is simple. If there is no Concorde Agreement it doesn't make that much difference.

"All the Concorde Agreement is is really us telling the people what we are going to pay them. If there was no Concorde Agreement, same thing, we would run the championship and we would pay the people probably a lot less than they get now."

William revive Renault F1 Partnership

Jenson Button with Frank Williams in Valencia

Williams will switch to Renault engines next year, reviving a partnership that brought the struggling team their greatest success in the 1990s.

Williams have signed a two-year contract to use Renault engines in 2012 and 2013, ending their relationship with independents Cosworth.

The Williams-Renault partnership won four drivers' and five constructors' championships between 1992 and 1997.

These included titles for Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Damon Hill.

Williams have plummeted some way from those heights. They have not won a race since 2004 and are lying ninth in the championship this season, ahead only of the teams that joined the sport for the first time in 2010.

Team principal Sir Frank Williams said: "Our previous relationship with Renault was one of the most successful in Williams' history but we will not allow ourselves to dwell too much on the past.

Renault won the world championship last year as Red Bull's engine supplier, and its F1 president Bernard Rey said that the new deal "reiterates how determined the team is to achieve results, which matches perfectly with our own objectives".

Rey added: "Of course there's also a great pride in reviving the Williams-Renault name.

"Together, we produced racing cars that are recognised for their technical innovation and it is still Renault's most successful period in F1 to date.

"It's a hugely exciting opportunity for both Renault and Williams."

Williams F1 chairman Adam Parr said the team were already "working on an extension" of the contract for 2014, when a new engine formula will see turbo-charged 1.6-litre V6 engines with extensive hybrid technology replacing the current normally aspirated 2.4-litre V8s.

Parr added: "We constantly put pressure on ourselves to improve our performance regardless of expectations.Sir Frank Williams says he is determined to make his team winners again

"We're not satisfied with just finishing races or picking up a few points, our aim is to win and we want to put ourselves back in a position to do so.

"Clearly our performance at the moment is not where would like it to be, but we are doing all we can to rectify that and this partnership is another step in that process. This partnership is about the future. In a sense, it is about earning the right to inherit the past."

Parr added: "Renault is serious about success and so are we.

"They compete in Formula 1 because it's at the cutting edge of developing technologies and because it is the pinnacle of motorsport.

"This is also why we compete in the sport and together we believe we can return Williams to our former competitiveness."

The Williams contract brings the number of teams Renault supplies in F1 to four, including Team Lotus and the Renault team, in which the French manufacturer no longer has any equity.

Until this year, engine manufacturers could supply a maximum of three teams, but governing body the FIA has now approved them having four partners.

Williams have had their worst start to a season in their history this year and the disappointment has led to major changes in the team.

Technical director Sam Michael has resigned and will step down at the end of the season. Head of aerodynamics Jon Tomlinson has also quit the team.

Former McLaren and Ferrari designer Mike Coughlan, who was at the centre of 2007's 'spy-gate' scandal, has joined as chief designer.

In addition, the team was floated on the Frankfurt stock exchange earlier this year, although Sir Frank Williams remains in overall control.

It has been reported that his long-term partner Patrick Head, is to retire, but this is inaccurate. Head will stay on as a board member and shareholder.

Virgin Racing Partners with McLaren

Virgin Racing has agreed a long-term technical partnership with McLaren as the team strives to make its mark in Formula One.

The agreement allows Virgin access to McLaren facilities, including test rigs, driver simulator and wind tunnel, the latter especially relevant as their cars have previously been designed by computer. The partnership will also see McLaren management and production staff embedded within Virgin, working in roles permitted by the Concorde Agreement.

To further underline their commitment to F1, the Dinnington-based team have acquired their former technical partner WRT and their facilities in Banbury. The premises will be utilised for the next two years, during which time the team will proceed with their plans to develop a tailor-made new facility.

The Virgin chief executive, Andy Webb, said: "When we undertook our detailed review of the team in the first half of 2011, it was clear that our bold ambitions for the future would need to be matched with some equally bold steps towards achieving them.

"We are now in the fantastic position of being able to make these two very important announcements which will enable us to make some dramatic strides forward with immediate effect.

"Our technical partnership with McLaren is very exciting. We can benefit enormously from their far-reaching techniques and capabilities. I have no doubt this partnership will see us take the technical steps necessary to make a significant leap forwards."

The McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said Virgin will "derive significant benefits" from using his team's facilities.

"During the period in which we were agreeing this deal, our experience of dealing with Andy and his team was extremely positive," Whitmarsh said. "We recognise he and his colleagues are very serious about making developments that will lift the competitiveness of their cars over the coming months and years."

Virgin have also confirmed Pat Symonds, Renault's former technical director who was involved in the 'crash-gate' scandal, will continue in his consultancy role for the foreseeable future.