2013 Korean GP: Sebastian Vettel untouchable again to close on world title

Sebastian Vettel could win his fourth straight World Championship as early as next week after his unerringly imperious title defence continued with a fourth consecutive 2013 victory at the Korean GP.

Both Massa and Perez were summoned to see the stewards after the race after a late combative dice over those final points places, but that didn't tell the full story of both drivers' afternoons. Indeed, Massa had been involved in the race's first real dramatic moment when, amid the ever-frenzied opening dash down the backstraight, spun under braking on the inside and forced team-mate Alonso to take avoiding action. While the Spaniard was lucky to escape without any damage to his car, Massa dropped to the back of the pack before setting in motion his recovery drive to the points. McLaren rival Perez, meanwhile, suffered a sudden right-front tyre blowout coming onto that same backstraight later in the race, which may have been prompted by a massive lock-out of the same tyre for the previous corner. With the tread exploding off the wheel, Mark Webber, following closely behind, picked up a puncture when running over the resultant debris and had to make an unscheduled pitstop of his own. It proved particularly untimely for the Australian as he had been in the midst of a promising recovery drive from his 13th-place grid spot. However, just laps later, Webber's his hopes of a strong result were conclusively ended when he was hit from behind by Force India's Adrian Sutil and retired on the spot. Then to cap what is increasing turning into a disappointing end to his long F1 career, the rear of Webber's RB9 immediately caught fire with the rear of the car soon engulfed in flames. A fire truck, instead of the usual safety car, was then erroneously dispatched at the head of the field, symbolising what was fast turning into an increasingly unpredictable afternoon. Not that any of that truly troubled the other Red Bull driver, however, who now heads to Suzuka on the brink of yet another piece of history.